Community
Along the streets of Edgartown, garlands twist up the lamp posts, lights string along shrubs and wreaths hang on the stores’ front doors.
For 31 years the town has celebrated Christmas with a Main street parade, and come Saturday morning, the sleigh bells will be ringing and the children singing as Santa makes his way down the street, with 45 other floats following behind.
But these days the event is much more than just a wave from Santa’s sleigh.
South Shore Community Action Council Inc. is accepting applications for fuel assistance, a program that helps with fuel deliveries and utility shutoffs. Anyone who did not receive an application in the mail and feels they may qualify is encouraged to apply.
In 1999 Marsha Winsryg traveled to Africa with her two daughters. In Victoria Falls in Zambia they passed through the Mukuni village, which had a bustling craft market.“The people are all wood carvers and famous for it,” said Ms. Winsryg. “It’s all they do, but nobody makes a living from it. They just can’t sell enough.”
Reading is good for you and good for others, too, this winter, as the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters to help provide books to Island kids. Little brothers and sisters in the mentoring program have created wish lists of book titles at the store and everyone is invited to choose a book to give to the children. All books for the kids are 20 per cent off.
It may be a year or more away, but anticipation is already building for the new version of the West Tisbury Library. On Wednesday, Dec. 12 at noon there will be a groundbreaking ceremony at the building site. At 3:30 there will be a children’s groundbreaking ceremony. Both events will include food and live music, plus the ability to grab a hard hat and do some digging. A brass band will spur you on.
The West Tisbury elves are throwing their annual Christmas Greens Faire this Saturday, Dec. 8, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the West Tisbury Congregational Church.
The elves are actually the ladies of the church who for weeks beforehand forage in the fields for the freshest greens to make wreaths, centerpieces, boxwood kissing balls and miniature trees. The Faire has been going on for decades and the ladies have their artistry down to a spiritual science.