Letter from the Publisher

One should not take the helm of a 165-year-old institution without a sense of history and humility, and so I arrived this week to take up my new post as publisher of the Vineyard Gazette with a healthy dose of both.

Well Done

Two weeks ago, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School hosted its second annual wellness day. Thirty-seven workshops were offered by faculty and community volunteers. The workshops covered a wide range of offerings including fitness, yoga, cooking, counseling and suicide prevention, to name just a few.

Full Meal

Of all the harbingers of spring there is one that evokes not a smile but a sense of sadness: The end of the community suppers.

Each community supper, held on different weekday nights during the winter months at houses of worship around the Island, has a different feel. They range from soup suppers to large meals. There is even a periodic klezmer jam. But they do have one thing in common: All are welcome.

In Community

This winter the Island has experienced the deaths of many beloved residents. The passing of three men in particular, from very different walks of life, leaves a large hole in the life of the Island; Sheriff Christopher (Huck) Look, Edwin (Bob) Woods, and Jonathan Lipsky.

Each man made specific contributions to the Island, in law enforcement, conservation and the arts. On a deeper and perhaps even more significant level they represented through their actions what living in community means. This will be their lasting legacy.

Winter Curtain Call

Yesterday winter gave the perfect curtain call, bowing gracefully, graciously. There was nothing overly showy to suggest that it was the final performance, but the program notes for this season suggest that it was.

Census Tales

More census figures emerged this week, enforcing with numbers the story of growth that has been told on the Vineyard for decades. The population of Dukes County, which includes Martha’s Vineyard, grew more than ten per cent in the past decade, the highest rate of any county in the commonwealth. We are now, give or take, sixteen-thousand, five-hundred and thirty-five people on this relatively small Island.