The volunteer-powered Houses of Grace winter shelter system has opened for its third season. “If I didn’t have this, I’d be sleeping around a fire, bundled up,” said Derek MacLeod.

The band performed the first winter concert of its nearly 150-year year history Saturday.

After 149 summers of delighting audiences from down-Island bandstands and stages, the Vineyard Haven Band will perform on street level for its first-ever winter concert Dec. 16 at 1 p.m.

Tony Lombardi, the former director of Alex’s Place at the YMCA, died last Friday morning at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. He was 59.

The all-volunteer coalition founded in 2013 to tackle the needs of the Island’s aging population, announced last week a new collaboration.

Wrapping up their 49th year as the elite choral group at the regional high school, the Minnesingers drew packed houses for their winter concerts.