Island Time, April 5-7: Farm Fundraiser, Book Fair, Spring Concert

Island Time, April 5-7: Farm Fundraiser, Book Fair, Spring Concert

April 5, 2019

In a small community like the off-season Vineyard, hardly a week goes by when there isn’t some type of grassroots fundraiser on the calendar. It might be a potluck or a dance party or a sporting event. It might be that a business is donating a percentage of sales to a local organization, like Bunch of Grapes bookstore does with its annual School Book Fair, happening this week. (The store donates 20 percent of all sales to Island school libraries during the week.)

And while there are a number of fundraisers coming up in the next few weeks, this weekend’s Hay Barn Hoedown at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society is likely to draw Vineyarders from all corners. In the aftermath of a devastating fire at Flat Point Farm on the morning of March 19, community members, farmers, artists, musicians and the Ag Society collaborated to create the potluck event, where dozens of Island musicians, including Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, The Pickpocket Blue Grass Band, Mike Benjamin, Phil DaRosa, Joanne Cassidy, Isaac Taylor and many more will be donating their time and talent to the evening, which will raise money to help rebuild Flat Point’s main barn.

There will also be art and prints for sale from Island artists, including Kenneth Vincent, Craig Miner, Albert Fischer, Jocelyn Filley and Alison Shaw, among others. The event runs from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday night and is $25 for adults, free for children.

Friday, April 5 | Music in the Air

The Wampanoag New Year Celebration, with traditional food, tribal drums, singing and dancing, kicks off at the Aquinnah Town Hall tonight at 5:30 p.m, whlie the Book Fair Kickoff Party is happening at Bunch of Grapes at 5 p.m. PathwaysArts presents A Classical Jazz Evening, with the quartet known as The Convertibles, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

And on the big screen, Dev Patel stars in The Wedding Guest, the globetrotting thriller showing at the M.V. Film Center tonight at 7:30 p.m. Dumbo, Shazam! and Pet Semetary are showing at Edgartown Cinemas tonight and all weekend. And there’s live music at the Ritz and Alex’s Place tonight, too.

Saturday, April 6 | For the birds

The Health Fair runs from 8 a.m. to noon at the hospital this morning. After you get yourself tuned up, you can learn how to tune up your trees at Polly Hill Arboretum in a Tree and Shrub Pruning Class. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., PHA Grounds Manager and Arborist Ian Jochems will demonstrate pruning techniques and will direct the class in hands-on practice on the grounds.

Tonight, music and Island history lovers will not want to miss the Island Community Chorus’s Spring Concert which features a very special piece this year: a newly commissioned premiere performance of award-winning composer Thomas LaVoy’s work In Heaven, Hereafter, based on the writings of West Tisbury’s Nancy Luce, who was known for her love for her chickens. The performance is at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Old Whaling Church and again at 3 p.m. tomorrow.

Sunday, April 7 | All that Sparkles

Take a guided tour of the Southern Woodlands Reservation with Land Bank Ecologists today at 1 p.m. Or head to the MV Ice Arena for The Martha’s Vineyard Figure Skating Club’s 31rst annaul spring show, Once Upon a Dream: Children’s Stories on Ice. The show (1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.) will feature the club’s skaters and special guest Indi Cha, the 2018 U.S. Intermediate Ladies National Champion.

At 4 p.m., head to Featherstone for the opening reception of a new show entitled Silver and Gold, featuring works from local artists. Gold leaf, silver gelatin prints, metal art, gold pendants, silver bracelets and more will come into play in this mixed media exhibit.