Olivia Hull
Coming on the heels of a successful Memorial Day weekend, new Edgartown business owners expressed excitement for the coming season and the hope that they are helping to breathe new life into a downtown that has seen a good deal of commercial space turnover in recent years. The trend has not translated to empty storefronts; instead where one business moves out, another takes its place, and the retail landscape this summer is a lively mix of old and new.
Last Sunday evening at the Old Sculpin Gallery, as the Chappaquiddick ferry shuttled back and forth and fishermen dangled their lines off the boardwalk, art enthusiasts and passersby contemplated the artistic expertise of three recent high school graduates, Noelle Nelson and Courtney Mussell, winners of the Martha’s Vineyard Art Association 2012 Scholarship, and alternate Christine Janak.
Jane Hurst woke up last Saturday morning with a challenge: Think way back to last summer and collect all of the items necessary to conduct business at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market, the first of the season.
Cherilla (Coco) Brown still remembers feeling ecstatic when, six years ago, she won the lottery to attend the charter school. She hated elementary school, to the point of locking herself in the car each morning so her mother wouldn’t be able to drive her. But she found a love of learning at the charter school, an education she likens to homeschooling.
“Today is the happiest day of my life,” Ms. Brown said Sunday afternoon as she donned a blue flower wreath and prepared to graduate from high school.
Late last Thursday afternoon at Lambert’s Cove Beach in West Tisbury, early-season sunbathers dipped their feet in the icy water. A young couple paddle-boarded, their laughs just audible over the sound of waves. One man snoozed in a lounge chair, a discarded book at his side.
There were children prancing around in angel costumes, families noshing on barbeque food and familiar tunes blasting from speakers. It was like one big Islandwide block party at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School track last Friday as Islanders gathered to celebrate life.
But all fell silent when Tammy King, chief organizer of the event, took the microphone to inaugurate Martha’s Vineyard Relay for Life’s ninth annual all-night fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.