A new season means new food on Martha’s Vineyard. Across the Island, eateries are shuffling chefs, inventing new menus and changing locations for the summer. Other restaurants are starting from scratch.

Restaurateurs are offering an exciting array of new fare from eggs Benedict to lobster as they gear up to serve summer crowds.

Visitors are filling Island beaches, men on ladders are cleaning street lanterns along Main street Edgartown and an endless line of cars waits behind the stop sign at the Triangle — all indicators that it’s July Fourth week. Tomorrow is the national holiday. This will be Edgartown’s 43rd consecutive year hosting its annual Independence Day parade. A crowd of thousands of Islanders and visitors will line Main street to witness another year’s string of marchers and floats.

Time is of the essence — an age-old adage. Nobody had to tell Rubin Cronig. At just 24 years of age, he has been embodying the mantra since he was 10.

The British came, but this time they were invited. In a replay with a twist of the New England battles that took place almost 236 years ago, the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks took on the British National baseball team on Saturday evening.

Writers are everywhere, often hiding in plain sight. They’re under umbrellas in Oregon. They sit in the sweltering Georgia sun. They live across the ocean and in different continents. They are also on the Vineyard, and in greater number from July 15 to 20, thanks to the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, which is about to begin its third year as a haven for developing writers.

To excel at tennis it usually takes more than desire, dedication and athleticism. It takes money. Equipment is expensive, as is court time and high-caliber instruction. For Vineyard kids, though, money is not an issue. Ten years ago Vineyard Youth Tennis was created to furnish Island youth with free tennis lessons and a state-of-the-art facility of their own to play as many hours as they wanted; again completely for free.