Little Sundance in Vineyard Haven

For a few days this month, Islanders were encouraged to collectively dream in the dark. Many hundreds took up the invitation of the Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival, which clearly has big dreams of its own.

Watching the Fuel Gauge

At the Steamship Authority so much fuel is used to send ferries back and forth on their frequent schedule that even small changes in the price of oil can translate over time into significant savings, or expense.

To that end Falmouth governor Robert S. Marshall is right to sound a note of caution about where fuel prices may be heading in the coming year.

Boat line staff has forecast that oil will cost about seventy dollars per barrel in the current year, about ten dollars less than current prices.

A Dredge With Potential

Disappearing Ancient Ways

On Thursday night the Martha’s Vineyard Commission will hold a public hearing on a proposal to include five ancient ways in the town of Edgartown in a special ways district of critical planning concern.

Public attendance is encouraged at this important gathering, which may well decide the future of Watcha Path, Tar Kiln Road, Middle Line Path, Pennywise Path and Ben Tom’s Road — old byways which are so much a part of Island history and are now threatened by encroaching development and misuse.

A Weapon to Defend Island Waters

The days slip by, one after another. First a hundred, then a thousand, then thousands more. The cesspool keeps leaking. The septic system isn’t repaired. The one-bedroom, one-toilet cottage is transformed into a three-bedroom, two-toilet home. And the quality of the water in Sengekontacket Pond continues to decline.

Return to Tivoli Day

The town of Oak Bluffs, planning a new celebration at the end of summer in 1978, turned to its own history and took the name of Tivoli from the community arcade building that was the pride of the town and the center of its nightlife at the lively turn of the century. Since 1978, Tivoli Day has taken root as a favorite celebration in the afterglow of the Labor Day holiday, a festive landmark placed squarely at the intersection of Island summer and fall.