Traffic was up, sales were up and spirits were up to match as business owners across the board reported a generally busy Memorial Day weekend and a healthy start to the season this year.

Steamship Authority traffic to the Vineyard between Thursday and Saturday was up four per cent for passenger traffic and two and a half per cent for car traffic over last year. And Saturday alone saw a 19 per cent increase in passenger traffic from the previous year.

As of Wednesday this week, the Steamship Authority was booked solid for seven straight days. With sunny days and warmer weather, traffic already has begun piling up at the Bourne Bridge. "It's a big hurrah for the season," said Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs terminal manager Bridget Tobin. "It's a prime weekend to open houses."

The capital campaign to fund Martha's Vineyard's new hospital has ended with more than $46 million raised in cash and in pledges over the next five years.

Confirming the successful conclusion of the fund-raising effort this week, capital committee cochairman Warren Spector said $22 million of the funds was in cash, and $6.9 million had been contributed by Island residents.

The real estate market on the Vineyard has swung strongly in favor of buyers, as record stocks of unsold properties force agents and owners to begi

Island Veterans Groups Withering Away

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

Vineyard veterans are disappearing. Membership in all three of the prominent Island veterans' organizations is at its lowest in decades.

From his perch in Poole's Fish Market, which he ran for half a century, Captain Everett H. Poole watched Menemsha harbor fade from being one of the busiest fishing ports on the East Coast.