For Danielle Pappas, volunteer at Grace Church’s weekly summer lobster roll sale, three words best describe the event.

“It’s hectic, hectic, hectic,” she said last Friday, making sure to speak loudly across the small, packed kitchen. The room rang with laughter as 20 or so volunteers, wearing aprons reading “Have you hugged an Episcopalian today?” worked feverishly.

As we paddle-boarded on the still waters of Menemsha Pond with Nicole Corbo, owner of Aloha Paddle MV, it was hard to imagine we had just mastered the strokes a few minutes earlier on shore. Standing on the water, one can see swans take flight. Crabs scuttle below. The repetitive paddling is relaxing, almost meditative.

Ms. Corbo founded her company this past May. Her goal is to bring “the aloha spirit to Martha’s Vineyard.”

When Tanya Augoustinos and Maria Westby opened A Gallery in July, they set out to bring contemporary art to the Vineyard. This goal was evident last Sunday at an opening for Cindy Kane’s show Inheritance, her first on the Island since 2008. Ms. Kane’s work is provocative, yet unobtrusive. She creates visually-pleasing assemblages that subtly carry a political undertone, a quality that separates her from more traditional Vineyard artists.