The idea for The Workshop was born over dinner in September. Artists Dan VanLandingham, Lauren Coggins-Tuttle, Terry Crimmen and Tara Kenny were planning to rent a space together next spring but when a building became available on the Vineyard Haven waterfront, they leaped at it, paintbrushes at the ready.

Up-Island heads downtown next week as chef and farmer Chris Fischer opens a popup restaurant in New York city. Mr. Fischer, the chef at the Beach Plum Restaurant in Chilmark, is converting the old Bowery street subway station into Fish and Rose.

The church ladies of the West Tisbury Congregational Church have once again left the pews and taken to the woods. Fear not, they have not gone feral.

They are teachers, plumbers, bankers, artists, fishermen, scallopers, shopkeepers, retirees and twenty-somethings. And while all of these roles are important, this weekend the key characteristic that binds this seemingly disparate group is that they sing.

The Martha’s Vineyard Poets’ Collective gets the honors at an authors’ reception on Sunday, Dec. 8 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Bananas on Main street in Vineyard Haven.

Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard hosts a potluck beginning at 5 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center on Sunday, Dec. 8.