On a recent Friday morning, a group of Edgartown School students could be found in the back of the building, grossly immersed in studies. They had no books, no pencils, no teachers telling them to quiet down, only their hands for tools. The six students, all under the age of nine, were wildly excited to be back to school to pick from the beds of vegetables they had started during the school year.

Colorful cocktail dresses and navy blazers stood out against the dusty brown parking lots of the West Tisbury Agricultural Hall Monday night, as Islanders flocked to honor former Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation president, the late Stephen R. Crampton, at the foundation’s annual summer benefit.

This is the weekend of the 24th annual Monster Shark Tournament and as many as 120 recreational fishing boats are expected in Oak Bluffs harbor. They’ll ply the waters south and east of the Vineyard in pursuit of the biggest shark, but only a few fish will be brought ashore.

This event has drawn much attention in recent years, including from animal rights activists, who complain about wasteful killing of sharks in recent years.