Draft and craft come together Wonder and wander at Islanders Write B2 the waters B8
Thursday, July 23, 2026
THE MARTHA’S VINEYARD TIMES
Volume 43, Issue No. 29
2 Sections
Steamship general manager gets high praise and a pay raise
Price $1.00
A new board member from New Bedford is introduced to the public. BY EUNKI SEONWOO
Celebrating Portuguese culture
TESSA SCHULZ
F
A weekend that also remembered Patricia Bergeron. BY THE MV TIMES
T
he Feast of the Holy Ghost is a major annual Portuguese-American festival hosted at the Portuguese-American Club (P.A. Club) in Oak Bluffs. This Island tradition celebrates Queen Isabel of Portugal and her charity during a historic famine. Hundreds of spectators gathered on downtown sidewalks to watch the procession of fire trucks, ox-drawn floats, and a group of girls donning white dresses and clutching the three components of Queen Isabel’s crown — a shining scepter, plate, and crown. The feast was particularly poignant this year, remembering the late Patricia
Bergeron, lifelong member of the P.A. Club and former president, who passed away on Jan. 1 along with her partner Roy Scheffer, when the two were scalloping in a skiff that capsized. In 2001, after Bergeron’s son passed away, it became tradition to place a wreath on his grave following the parade in addition to one at the base of the statue at the Catholic Cemetery to honor Queen Isabel. This year, a wreath was placed on Bergeron’s grave as well. The Portuguese presence on Martha’s Vineyard began in the early 19th century when ships from Martha’s Vineyard
stopped at the Azorean and Cape Verde islands for supplies and crew. By 1905, more than a quarter of the residents of Oak Bluffs were foreign-born — mostly Portuguese-speaking immigrants. Over time, as these skilled sailors immigrated, they sent for their families. By 1920, almost one-third of the Island’s population were first- or second-generation immigrants. The prevalence of Portuguese language spoken here paved the way for Brazilian immigrants to also find a welcoming home, and has contributed to the diverse fabric of the Island.
ollowing a closed-door session in Oak Bluffs Town Hall, new Steamship Authority General Manager Alex Kryska was given high marks for his first six months on the job, and the ferry line’s board rewarded him with a more than $26,000 pay bump. The decision followed a public evaluation of Kryska’s performance on Tuesday during the Steamship Authority board’s monthly meeting. After exiting an executive session, the board voted 4–0 to increase Kryska’s salary from $225,000 to $251,513.60, a 12 percent increase. The only board member who didn’t vote or provide an evaluation was Kreg Espinola, the newly appointed New Bedford representative. The Tuesday meeting was Espinola’s first public appearance in a meeting; he replaced longtime New Bedford representative Moira Tierney. Kryska submitted a self-evaluation on July 1 prior to the public review, and among various topics touched on, he made a note about compensation, comparing his salary to his predecessor, Robert Davis. “I came into this role at a starting salary of $225,000. My predecessor, who served as general manager with the same title and full scope of responsibility, was compensated at $239,400, a rate he continues to receive in his current role as senior advisor, prior to any annual adjustment,” Kryska wrote. “I want to be clear that I appreciate the senior advisor role, and recognize the commitment and value he has provided to the authority throughout his career and in his current capacity. “I raise this not as a complaint, but as a straightforward and material point of comparison … Given that my predecessor’s Continued on A8
A view of the White House from the Vineyard
Leading journalists talk local roots at Islanders Write
Hundreds of Islanders attended Jill Biden’s book talk on her new memoir.
The Times announces a second ‘Island Writer,’ and a new internship. BY HAYLEY DUFFY
BY SARAH SHAW DAWSON
A
ttendees filled nearly all of the red auditorium chairs in the Performing Arts Center at the Martha’s Vineyard High School (MVRHS) on Thursday night to hear Dr. Jill Biden, former first lady, discuss her new book, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir.” The talk was a part of the Martha’s Vineyard Author Series, and a stop of Biden’s book tour after her memoir was released in June. It was moderated by Sunny Hostin, an awardwinning journalist, author, and cohost of ABC’s “The View.” Biden and Hostin sat on the same Performing Arts Center (PAC) stage where MVRHS students performed the musical “Hadestown” and the Minnesingers’ spring Continued on A7
I
slanders Write, a literary event sponsored by The Martha’s Vineyard Times, showcased insights of various wordsmiths, from Pulitzer prizewinning journalists to best-selling novelists, all of whom share a link to the Island. The free two-day event kicked off last Wednesday night at Featherstone Center for the Arts with a panel discussion called “Writing on the Edge: New Models for Reporting and the Current State of Journalism.” The panel, moderated by Times Publisher Charles Sennott, included awardwinning investigative journalist and staff writer for the New Yorker Jane Mayer and CEO of Hunterbrook Nathaniel Horwitz, both of whom talked about their start as local journalists, and their local connection to the Island. They Continued on A9
Panelists Nathaniel Horwitz, Jane Mayer, and Charles Sennott. See publisher's note on membership model on A2.
EAMON COLBERT © 2026
8
08805 93096
2