Those who spend time in nature know there are endless pleasures to be had this time of year. Maybe it’s harvesting cool-air sweetened tomatoes from the garden or hearing a chorus of throaty honks before seeing a V of geese sail by overhead. But there are few moments more thrilling than feeling that tug on the line that says you’ve hooked a fish. For eighty years, anglers have been rising early for the chance to catch a big one and enter it into the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby. This year, the event runs from September 14 to October 18. The weigh station is open from 8 to 10 a.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Derby HQ on Dock Street in Edgartown. Happy fishing.
What to Do
After a yearlong hiatus, LadyFest MV is back and the music festival means business. Five-time Grammy award winner Esperanza Spalding will headline the event, which began in 2017 and highlights women artists. Spalding will be joined by local acts to benefit an Island program: CONNECT to End Violence. Organizers Kelly Feirtag and Rose Guerin said that the festival outgrew the previous location on Circuit Avenue. It will now take place a few blocks away
at Alley/Waban Park in Oak Bluffs on October 11 from 2 to 9 p.m.
Where to Go
On October 31, when the sun begins to set and a cold wind travels across the Island, the residents of Vineyard Haven, and of William Street in particular, band together to show the local ghosts and goblins a good time. Scare away the dark spirits as you trick-or-treat on the street when it’s closed to traffic. While there, consider the history of the area, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of the homes have been around since the mid-1800s. Now, that’s a lot of Halloweens.
What to See
For those looking to escape the headlines, may we recommend a play that takes place in Berlin, 1933? From September 5 through 27, the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse in Vineyard Haven is staging Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library, a drama about a time when martial law ruled and political activism was a capital crime. A young Gestapo officer arrests a graduate student – philosopher Hannah Arendt – who is suspected of conducting illegal research. Is she innocent? Will it matter? Catch this slice of history performed in the present day.
What’s Up and What’s Down
Forget about the New York Stock Exchange. We’ll tell you what’s up and what’s down on the Island, what’s rising and what’s falling. Remember: buy low, sell high.
What's Up:
Tackenash Knoll, a sixty-unit affordable housing development, is going up along the Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road. The project is planned to serve people making between 30 and 110 percent of the area median income and is being developed by the town of Oak Bluffs, Affirmative Investments, and Island Housing Trust (IHT). All told, the project could provide housing for more than 150 Islanders, according to Philippe Jordi, the CEO of IHT. The project is expected to be completed and ready for residents to move in by 2027.
What's Down:
The windows of Sgt. Bradley Cortez’s police cruiser while he’s in West Tisbury. Cortez was recently named the police chief of that town and he plans to abide by his motto, “When in town, roll them down.” He told the Vineyard Gazette: “It’s as simple as a wave. You yell hi to somebody, whether you’re going through the parking lot at Conroy’s, Alley’s, or Cronig’s. It’s just a simple interaction, [it] just goes a long way. That’s the heart of community policing.”
Numerology
12 – The percent increase of the Chappy Ferry rate, as approved by the Edgartown select board this summer.
$60,000 – The amount of additional funds needed for a Chappy Ferry redesign to address sea level rise, according to ferry co-owner Peter Wells.
$17 – The new round-trip price for a car fare, up from $15.
Well Said
“The cattle markets have been kind of haywire.”
– Winston Bell, the livestock manager for the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission, had trouble getting the parasite-resistant Pineywoods cattle he wanted for the land bank’s grazing program, so he settled for Randall cattle.
What to Read
Wôpanâak Seasons: Seeqan, Neepun, Keepun, Pup8n by Carrie Anne Vanderhoop (Tradewind Books, June 2025)
At the time of year when the days grow shorter and the leaves start to change, what are you thankful for? This is one of the questions that Akeeahm8s, the main character of a new picture book, asks the reader. Akeeahm8s is a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and her answers are fresh baked bread, jam, cranberries, and community.
The picture book, written by Aquinnah tribal member Carrie Anne Vanderhoop and illustrated by Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, travels through a year in Akeeahm8s’s life on the Island. In the winter, she’s thankful for Christmas cheer. Come spring, there’s gratitude for osprey, swans, and flowers. And, in summer, her family relishes in beach days, sunsets, and fireflies. While writing the book, Vanderhoop worked with the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project. The story includes several words and phrases in Wôpanâak language, such as Akeeahm8s’s name, which means bee or one who travels over all the land.
