Simple Pleasures, Natural Beauty

Here on Martha’s Vineyard Memorial Day remains a holiday of both tradition and new beginnings:  Look for a parade of  Island grade-schoolers marching to the sea with just-bloomed lilacs in hand, Island towns bustling with activities that announce the new season.

Celebrate Community
Along with the weekend’s yard sale activity, always fun and perfect for reestablishing summer friendships is the Tisbury Town Picnic.  Held at the Tisbury Waterworks, a short wooded path leads away from the Tashmoo overlook to a shaded, grassy sward where picnics are the order of the day.  Steps away, pony rides, ice cream cones and row boats preview summer activities. Bring a blanket and a picnic basket full of your favorites, grills are provided.

Enjoy Local Foods
For dinner, stop by any one of the many Island restaurants getting the season off to a delicious start with a down home, roll-your-sleeves-up clambake. At Net Result, diners indulge their taste for lobster in the rough at roadside benches set up at the fishmonger’s downtown Tisbury location.
                            

In Oak Bluffs, the sprawling Lola’s cooks with a Cajun accent while the Lookout Tavern tempts diners with its raw bar and incomparable view of Vineyard Sound. In Edgartown, steaming yellow corn alongside the rosy crustaceans and other traditional fixin's can be enjoyed harborside at the Seafood Shanty.  Up Island, the Homeport, out the back door (for those who want to picnic) or in the restaurant itself, is the place to go.

Ice Cream - the Oh-so-Cool Summer Favorite
Which brings us to dessert—and is there really any other summer sweet but ice cream! Though some prefer Mad Martha’s no-frills, ice cream-only Island-wide locations and others find themselves tempted by the distraction-rich, candy-filled walls of Ben & Bills in Oak Bluffs, and while still others swear by cones offered up at Vineyard Scoops in the end--we all scream for ice cream.  (When a change of pace is called for, seek out Lattanzi’s Italian accented gelato in Edgartown.)

Get Outdoors
Working up an appetite is easy when one considers all the activities spring makes possible: Get on board with biking and enjoy the Island's fine system of bike paths.  Tune up your own transportation at Cycleworks or rent from any of the many outlets Martha’s Vineyard has to offer: Sun & Fun in Oak Bluffs, Edgartown Bicycles and Martha’s Bike Rental in Vineyard Haven can all get you up and on your way.

Making Your Garden Grow
If you’d prefer your own backyard, Memorial Day means its safe to start planting. Local  nursery’s are bursting with beautiful, trees, shrubs, flowers and veggies. For brown-thumbed browsers or serious and successful gardeners, a walk amidst all the fragrant greenery is a hard pleasure to pass up—make some time in your schedule to visit with the folks at Donaroma's , Heather Gardens or Mahoney’s.

However you choose to celebrate, we at MVOL wish you a wonderful holiday weekend. We expect to be right out there with you, ice cream cone in one hand and yard sale finds clutched in the other, welcoming the start of another Martha’s Vineyard summer.