It is Wednesday morning in West Tisbury and the sun streams out of a cloudless September sky, spilling through the front door of Alley’s General Store and flooding the old, worn floorboards with a warm, golden light. Out on the front porch a group of oldtimers stand amid stacks of pumpkins, drinking their morning coffee and holding court. Owen Ware, age two and a half, stands nearby, a half-eaten bag of M&Ms clutched in his left fist. A familiar up-Island resident pulls up in his car and Owen lifts a small hand in greeting. “Hi Ted!” he calls out. Ted returns the salutation.
A dispute over events held at the Vineyard Preservation Trust’s Grange Hall ended Thursday when the West Tisbury zoning board of appeals granted a special permit to the nonprofit.
West Tisbury officials previously raised concerns over the frequency of events held at the hall, resulting in a lawsuit between the town and the Vineyard Preservation Trust.
Vineyard Preservation Trust opened the doors of the historic Grange Hall to the public Wednesday evening for what it called a “listening session” to solicit thoughts about future programming.
The Grange Hall was built by the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society in 1859 and used for 137 years for the annual Agricultural Fair and Livestock Show.
