JOHN S. ALLEY

508-693-2950

(alleys@vineyard.net)

The weekend weather was just delightful. The beaches were pleasantly full on Sunday and many cookouts were held over the weekend. The school playing field was busy as a beehive on Sunday.

On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, folks in town witnessed a very unusual thing: two carts pushed by a husband and wife team. They started their journey from Florida 17 months ago, traveling alongside U.S. Highway 1. The carts have a good deal of junk on them, mostly picked up from the sides of the roads. When the Artisans fair opened, one of them was in front of the gate and drew a lot of attention from passersby. They then continued their “vacation,” pushing their carts toward Chilmark.

The 147th annual Vineyard agricultural fair begins a week from next Thursday, August 21, and runs until Sunday evening, Aug. 24. Fair booklets are now available at the agricultural hall office on Panhandle Road. The theme of the fair this year is Homegrown Favorites. The hall will be open on Monday as preparations for the fair will begin. The fair booklet gives a complete schedule of events, plus details on all the categories should you be planning to enter an exhibit and the necessary forms.

On Sunday, the Boston Pops will hold a concert in Oak Bluffs. Our own Katie Ann Mayhew, the 16-year-old singer from West Tisbury who recently was the grand prize winner in the first-ever Boston Pops High School Sing Off, has been invited to be a guest vocalist that evening. She has been mighty busy after winning the contest. She appeared at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services annual fundraising event at Outerland on Monday night, and was enthusiastically received at the State House for her achievement. She will be singing at the Sailing Camp this evening, the Tabernacle on Aug. 17, and Che’s Lounge on Aug. 22.

Denise Mount and her husband Don Evon, of Farmington, Conn., and her sister Pam of Chappaqua, N.Y., visited the Alley family for a long weekend. We all had a wonderful time dining out. They went to the beach every day, cooked us a gourmet meal complete with a variety of adult beverages, went sailing, kayaked and of course shopped. Denise met a high school classmate, Fern Bleckner and her husband Stephen Weinstock, now of Alexandra, Va., in Vineyard Haven. They had not seen each other for 30 years and it was their first visit to the Vineyard. They came in on their not-too-shabby sailboat. Denise and Anna showed them around the Vineyard, we dined out and Monday night they came over to our house with lobsters and Denise and Anna prepared a fantastic meal for everyone. Pam returned to New York Sunday evening and Denise and Don regrettably left on Monday.

Kathy Chaves of Great Plains Road thanks everyone for their concern when they learned about the serious car accident her three children were involved in two weeks ago on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road. Kathy reports it was a frightening scene and that it was amazing her children were not hurt worse by the impact of being struck hard from behind and then being forced into oncoming traffic. The Chaves family sincerely thanks the wonderful response from the emergency medical technicians, fire and police departments and the hospital staff.

It’s been a difficult summer for them as this accident happened two weeks to the day that Ernie’s mother passed away.

They are so thankful that they got to take a family vacation to the Azores in June to see his parents’ home, his grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ homes and visit with many relatives. The family enjoyed time on the islands of Santa Maria where Ernie was born and Sao Miguel. Kendall enjoyed the black sand beach and big ocean waves. Sammi enjoyed horseback riding and Mitchell had fun fishing. The Chaves family came home in time to share happy stories of the islands and the many photographs of her home and family. They wish to thank everyone for their kind words of support and prayers. They are now focusing on getting ready to pack up Kendall for his freshman year at Babson College.

George Hartman of Panhandle Road proudly reports that on Tuesday, he and his wife Andrea celebrated their 19thwedding anniversary on the shore of Ames Pond at Cedar Tree Neck. Bob Luskin of Edgartown Road reports that Charlotte Fallon and her daughters, Miranda and Nathalie, of Atlanta, Ga., are his houseguests as they arrived for a two-week visit on Wednesday. Bob is looking forward to showing them around and is pleased they will be here for the annual fair.

Dick and Dianne Reische of Runner Road report that their son Eric and his wife Olivia and their two children, Ki-Lin and new baby Daane, of Aspen, Colo., arrived on Tuesday for a week. They report that it is nice to get down here where there is much more oxygen and ocean beaches.

About 175 people attended the Martha’s Vineyard Permanent Foundation’s annual meeting in the Grange Hall Tuesday night, the largest attendance ever at an annual meeting. The creative living award was presented to Clarissa Allen and Mitchell Posin.

John and Goldie Siffert, of New York city and Edgartown Road, arrived last week for the month at their home named God’s Pocket.

Corre and Nick Kombol, of Atlanta, Georgia visited their aunt and uncle, Danica and David Lewis at their Deep Bottom Cove camp last week. Denise and Scott Miller, also from Atlanta, visited the writer’s cottage on the cove.

Coco Brown of Buttonwood Farm Road returned home last Thursday from a two-week stay in Rangeley, Me. She reports swimming and fishing in the many lakes nearby and had a wonderful time but is glad to get back home.

Marian Irving reports that there will be another ice cream festival on the church lawn tomorrow from 11 a.m. till 4 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the scholarship fund.

Noah and Susan Block of New York city plan to come down next month for a visit. They are most interested in seeing the progress made toward restoration of the Frank Adams house that they own on Music street.

Pam Butterick reports that the full-length organ recital by Peter Boak that was to be presented at the Federated Church in Edgartown to benefit their Steeple Fund Capital Campaign has been rescheduled from Sunday to a date in September. Also, the 2nd annual South Water Street House Tour will be held on Wednesday.

The West Tisbury library invites you to attend a meeting over at the Grange Hall on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Cheryl Bryan of the Southeast Massachusetts Library Service will facilitate a community discussion on the planning process in which you are invited to participate. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, please call 508-693-3366.

On Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the library, join authors Cynthia Riggs and Tom Dresser. Cynthia, a 13th-generation Islander lives in West Tisbury in her family homestead, now a bed-and-breakfast catering to poets and writers.

Double Murder on Martha’s Vineyard combines her first two books, Deadly Nightshade and The Cranefly Orchid Murders. Her ninth book is scheduled for publication in 2009. Tom, a former elementary school teacher and nursing home administrator who works at Featherstone, will discuss his newly published book, Mystery on the Vineyard: Politics, Passion and Scandal on East Chop, an unsolved crime that took place in Oak Bluffs in 1940.

In August 1983, Nicole Galland was looking forward to her first year at Harvard.

She was to “pack her clothes, typewriter, albums and books and venture off to Cambridge in search of her dreams,” the Gazette reported in its August 19 edition that year.

The ancient red brick and varnished wood of Hollis 22, a residence hall on the leafy north side of Harvard Yard would be home to the valedictorian of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Class of 1983.

“I’m not going to take this course and that course and use Harvard to get to this point to try to chisel out some kind of future,” she told the Gazette. “You’ve got to enjoy the journey, or else you’re going to be worn out by the time you get there.”

“I would like to write, but everyone says that it is really impractical. My friend Stephanie, she’s even more impractical than I am, even she says it’s really impractical,” Miss Galland said.

Happy birthday to Debbie Brew, Keston Smith, Tom Hodgson and Helen Brown today; Claire Gray, Domenic DiRosa and Robyn Hanover tomorrow; Jim Pritchard, Erik Lowe and Matthew Bradley on Sunday; Rosemary Bechtold, Linda Carroll, Diana Waring and J.C. Murphy on Monday; Susan Fieldsmith, Joe Schroder and Sam Stevenson on Tuesday; Peter Rodegast, Mariah Peebles and Pricilla Fischer on Wednesday; Sarah Catchpole, Mark Hutker, Bea Whiting, Nancy Polucci and Aaron Myatt on Thursday. Belated birthday greetings to Goodie Stiller and Lauraye White. Wedding anniversary wishes to Rosemary and Nick Van Nes on Sunday.

Well, that is all of the news for this week’s column. If you have any news, please call or e-mail me. Have a good week.