Coastal erosion has split Lucy Vincent Beach, temporarily cutting off a portion frequented by nude bathers at the point of a fossil-encrusted cliff, stretching the beach patrol and putting swimmers at risk.

In its sixth year of a capital campaign, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum is carrying an operating deficit from 2007 as it considers a different location for a future museum campus.

Keith Gorman, executive director of the museum since January of this year, has taken control of the nonprofit business at a difficult time. Determined to avoid a repeat financial performance in 2008, he is also presiding over a reassessment of the campaign to expand the museum which began in 2002 with a $27 million price tag and is currently undergoing a period of major reassessment.

It was warm and cloudy this year on the Fourth of July.

And as celebrations got under way, two of Vineyard Haven’s anchor businesses burned. Emergency services shut down power along Main street, cordoning off the heart of downtown. And in the aftermath, business owners commiserated, lent their support to the devastated owners of Café Moxie and Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, and shared fears about a retail season now in jeopardy.

Kim Nye bought an old hardware store on Uncas avenue in Oak Bluffs back in 2000, with an eye to opening an art gallery. She renovated it the following year but waited until now, a likely recession period, to open the gallery.

Tisbury’s annual street fair will not only go on despite the Independence Day fire, it will go on because of it, to help raise money for those affected.

An emergency meeting of the town selectmen Saturday morning appealed for a big turnout, and for people to come and donate.

An annual celebration of the town’s birthday, the street fair is Tuesday night.