Retail sales may be slumping around the country and on the Island, but the thrift stores and consignment shops of the Vineyard are thriving hubs of business these days.
“We have been incredibly busy,” said Sandy Pratt, comanager of the Vineyard Haven Thrift Shop.
“I could literally stay open 24 hours a day sometimes,” echoed Deborah Alpert-Sylvia, manager of the Edgartown Second Hand Store.
Growth is on the horizon for Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, the largest human service provider on the Island. A new strategic plan released this week announced plans for increased funding, larger facilities and expanded programs.
“The strategic plan is something we’ve put a lot of time and thought into,” community services executive director Julia Burgess said yesterday. “I think we’re going to be strong in the future. We will be able to meet the needs of the Island community on firm footing.”
It’s a bad time for business. Shoppers are spending less and economists are predicting the worst. But veteran Island businessman Elio Silva said the timing could not be better for opening Tisbury Farm Market, his new fresh produce stand on State Road. “More people are looking to cook from scratch and are looking to get a good price,” Mr. Silva said last Friday.
It is a campaign slogan which has caught fire ever since Presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama uttered the words after the New Hampshire primary. Celebrities from Scarlett Johansson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar to Herbie Hancock are saying it in English and in Spanish.
Community Supported Agriculture, the popular organic Island vegetable cooperative at Whippoorwill Farm, is on the rocks again, this time because of a business plan that has failed.
He has yet to hold a press conference in his front yard, hold forth on foreign policy regarding Israel, or hire a publicity management agent, as Ohio’s Joe Wurzelbacher has. But Joe Guerin, an Edgartown plumber with nearly 30 years experience, has seen his local fame skyrocket in the two weeks following the final presidential debate thanks to Mr. Wurzelbacher and the three little words he inspired: Joe the Plumber.
Adult education on Martha’s Vineyard dates back to the 1970s, but this month the old idea will be expanded and relaunched under the leadership of former high school Spanish teacher Lynn Ditchfield.
Richard Paradise stood in the corner of the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Saturday afternoon, silent but smiling.
It was a rare moment. Mr. Paradise, co-director of the annual Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival, is a natural talker and schmoozer. From the time this year’s festival kicked off Thursday afternoon to the time it closed Sunday at sunset, Mr. Paradise gabbed nonstop. He introduced films, talked shop with reporters and greeted audiences and filmmakers alike.
Amid the heap of state and national issues on Tuesday, Island voters will be asked one local question: whether to reduce the terms of the seven-member Dukes County commission. A yes vote on ballot question number four will reduce terms from four years to two. A no vote will leave commission members serving four-year staggered terms.
An overflow crowd came to the Agricultural Hall on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate and remember David Willey, the Vineyard Haven man and Cape Air pilot who died last Friday evening when his plane crashed near Nip ’n’ Tuck Farm in West Tisbury. He was 61.
