If you were to think of the summer as a single day, June would be the morning: quiet and cool at the start but with growing warmth and anticipation. July would be mid-day: the heady peak, with a blazing sun overhead. August would be the evening: hectic at the beginning, with a sense that there’s still so much to fit in before it’s over – the friends and family, the fair, the films, the fishing, the fireworks, the general festivities. Then calmer by the end, with long, simple dinners, maybe a glass of something outside on the deck, kids running through the yard. At the end of the evening, it gets quiet and faces turn up toward the sky to see a colorful flash of August’s sunset before it fades away.
Where to Go
Founded in 1858 and cancelled only during World War II and the Covid-19 pandemic, the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Fair is an Island mainstay every way you slice it. There’s the classic rides, foods, and exhibits, but if you stick around long enough, you might catch some of the moments that aren’t on the schedule: the playful smack-talking before the skillet toss, the grin on the face of the oyster shucking contest winner, and the ice cream reward for first place in the dog show. This year, the fair runs August 13 to 16.
What to Do
For two decades, the Chilmark Preschool operated out of a single room inside the Chilmark School. Now, their new stand-alone building, a permanent space that will allow the nonprofit to serve twice as many Island children, is almost complete. Emmy-winning comedian and Chilmark homeowner Seth Meyers will make audiences laugh for the cause at the Performing Arts Center in Oak Bluffs on August 22. Come prepared to enjoy Meyers’s typical rapid-fire delivery and dry wit. Leave knowing you helped the school close out their fundraising goals.
What to Watch
Should the mayor of a sleepy little island in New England try to lure tourists in hopes of becoming the next Martha’s Vineyard, even if he knows it’s haunted? That’s the question at the heart of a new horror-comedy television series called Widow’s Bay, streaming on Apple TV. Some townsfolk are for the changes and some are against. It’s part seaside town debate, part supernatural mess, and part affectionate wink at Amity and every other island that’s ever argued about the direction we’re headed in.
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:
Union Chapel, a 156-year-old, American Stick/Eastlake/Gothic Revival–style octagonal church, is a jewel in the sparkling crown of Oak Bluffs architecture. But, like most things that have celebrated a sesquicentennial anniversary, this unique gem needs care and upkeep. So, this past winter and spring, the Vineyard Preservation Trust, which owns the building, put in a new handicapped-accessible ramp and hand rails, as well as some backless benches that accommodate switching positions. A new pathway will be laid with bricks engraved for Trust donors.
What's Down:
While some new things were put up at Union Chapel, some old things had to come down. Rotten beams were extracted and decayed trees on the property were removed as well. But beautification is a priority. The grounds will be amply planted with low-maintenance perennials. “We hope that we’re leaving these buildings better than we found them,” Trust executive director Nevette Previd told the Vineyard Gazette.
What to Read
The Summer of Second Chances by K.L. Walther (Sourcebooks Fire, May 2026)
Memories are funny things: we often feel like the deepest, truest parts of ourselves are shaped by them, yet memories can be fickle and slip away. When Olivia, the protagonist of K.L. Walther’s new young adult romance novel, realizes that her aging grandmother, Annie, is losing touch with her memories, Olivia decides to dive into them in an effort to stay close to her. Annie spent some formative time on Martha’s Vineyard, so Olivia follows in her footsteps. While making some of her own memories on the Island, Olivia meets a boy and a love story unfurls. This is the second novel Walther has written about the Island; both of them influenced by her many summers here and both touch on the idea of grief. Her first, The Summer of Broken Rules (Sourcebooks Fire, 2021), “is an ode to my late father, who could never get enough of the Island,” Walther told the MV Times. Her latest is a tribute to her grandmother and to a time in life when anything seems possible
The Torah Is an Open Book: Radical Readings for the Seeker and the Skeptic by Caryn Broitman (Broadleaf Books, August 2026)
The word midrash is a kind of Jewish Biblical exegesis derived from the Hebrew drash, which means to study, inquire, seek, explain, investigate, or interpret. Caryn Broitman, rabbi at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, explores this idea of seeking in her new book about the Hebrew Bible. The Torah “is a place to wrestle with our relationships to family, community, and nation,” she writes in the introduction. “A place to confront challenging issues of justice, injustice, and responsibility. And a place to explore our relationship to a greater whole and a transcendent reality, hidden behind the visible.”
Putting aside the question of what’s true and what isn’t, Broitman speaks to both Jews and non-Jews about a text that has served her and the Island community through difficult and joyful times. “Wrestling with the text of the Torah in community, we have cried together, challenged each other, and enlarged our compassion and vision together,” she writes.
Numerology
2.5: The amount, in millions of dollars, that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is offering tick-borne illness public awareness campaigns and advances in Lyme treatment.
724: Number of patients diagnosed with alpha-gal syndrome at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in 2025.
44: Percentage of alpha-gal tests performed at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in 2024 that came back positive.
Well Said
“I had a ceiling tile fall on me in Spanish class.”
This spring, the plan to renovate and expand the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School passed by a landslide. Issues such as this one, which happened to Sarah Hartenstine, class of 2023, were at the forefront of some voters’ minds. “I went to high school here, and I know how badly we need a new one,” Hartenstine told the Vineyard Gazette.
Where to Stroll
Every August, Islanders and visitors gather for cherished traditions like Grand Illumination Night in the Camp Ground (August 19) and the Oak Bluffs Fireworks at Ocean Park (August 21) – events that have lit up summer for decades. This year, there’s an added focus on history and heritage across the Island. In honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum is presenting MA 250: Revolution on Martha’s Vineyard, a series of programs and an exhibition exploring the Island’s Revolutionary-era past. To see the most important sites in person, join Independence on Foot, a walking tour from the Vineyard Preservation Trust led by historian Norah Van Riper. It starts at the Vincent House Museum in Edgartown and connects other nearby sites through stories and lessons. Tours run on Fridays and Saturdays through September.
Who We’re Listening To
This summer is shaping up to be a big one for book lovers. All August long, leading writers and thinkers will gather across the Island for the Martha’s Vineyard Author Series, with events at the Chilmark Community Center and the Performing Arts Center in Oak Bluffs. Highlights include journalist Maggie Haberman discussing Regime Change (Simon & Schuster, June 2026) on August 2 and Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Richard Russo going Under the Falls (Knopf, August 2026) on August 20.
In between, the Martha’s Vineyard Black Book Festival takes place August 15 at the Island Inn in Oak Bluffs, featuring Walter Mosley on Ghalen: A Romance in Black (Amistad, May 2026) and former Atlanta mayor and current Georgia gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms on her memoir, The Rough Side of the Mountain (Mariner Books, April 2026).
