Mark Alan Lovewell
Edward W. (Ted) Hewett is back painting wood chests. The 81-year-old Vineyard Haven artist, who has done all kinds of paintings from portraits to abstract, is revisiting an art form.
“Friends ask me, ‘So when are you going to do another wood chest?’” Mr. Hewett said.
The answer is now.
Mr. Hewett used to paint a lot of wood chests: functional art that is a mix between something useful in the house and a one-of-a-kind piece of art work.
Tomorrow is party time in Oak Bluffs. From noon well into night, the town will celebrate the arrival of summer. There will be fireworks at night, a show that organizers say will rival the way Oak Bluffs celebrates the end of summer in August.
The day marks the merger of two big events in the season: the first day of summer, and the 17th annual Harbor Festival.
A small group of boat enthusiasts gathered at Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard for the launching of a wooden skiff last Friday afternoon.
Unlike most significant boat christenings and launchings, this one didn’t call for a lot of ceremony. There were no speeches, no flags or banners flying. A bottle of champagne was present, but no one was interested in consuming it. Only 20 people were in the audience.
Though the little boat will be the talk of the waterfront for years to come, there was nothing flashy about the gathering.
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Larry’s Tackle Shop has a new owner. He is the same guy who has been behind the counter and stocking the walls with fishing gear for years.
Steve V. Purcell has stepped from managing the store to owner and he did it with little fanfare back in March.
For him, this is the realization of a dream. Though he has managed the store for years, he has run it as though he owned it.
“I don’t know what I would have done without thinking about the store,” he said.
Martha’s Vineyard is privileged to have five lighthouses on its shores and a sixth at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum campus in Edgartown. Two more afar can be seen from the Island, sometimes even more at night.
This weekend all the Island’s lighthouses will be celebrated in what is being called the Martha’s Vineyard Lighthouse Challenge. Visitors from around the country who make a habit of visiting lighthouses are making a special trip to the Island to share their affection for these centuries old beacons of the waterfront night.
SLOOP: Restoring My Family’s Wooden Sailboat, An Adventure in Old-Fashioned Values. By Daniel Robb. Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y. 2007. 318 pages with photographs. $25.