Every picture tells a story B7
Nothing quite like a day at the farm B9
Heat, flooding, and mayhem Thursday, July 9, 2026
THE MARTHA’S VINEYARD TIMES
Volume 43, Issue No. 27
3 Sections
Fourth of July’s celebrations came with high temperatures and heavy rains.
Price $1.00
BY EUNKI SEONWOO
T
NICHOLAS VUKOTA
CELEBRATING 250
he holiday weekend’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence brought packed parades, booming firework displays, and an unrelenting heat wave. Days of soaring temperatures, which felt even hotter due to high humidity, were interrupted by torrents of rain and choppy seas that combined to create flooding on Beach Road and Five Corners as traffic jams clogged roads across the Island. Summer is in full swing on the Island, and a deluge of visitors came on what were some of the hottest days so far this year. Much of the East Coast endured heat waves during the holiday weekend, a situation that experts say will likely be a new normal. Across the country, at least 40 people have reportedly died from heat-related issues. The weather wasn’t as dire on the Island, which was under a heat advisory. But temperatures still reached the low 90s, enough for local emergency managers to warn the community to stay hydrated and to open cooling centers at the Tri-Town Ambulance station, Oak Bluffs library, and West Tisbury library. It’s not yet clear how many people utilized Tri-Town Ambulance, but Jennelle Gadowski, West Tisbury emergency director, said around 170 people came to her town’s library between Friday and Saturday, including times outside regular business hours. The cooling center, according to a post from the West Tisbury emergency department, provided people a cool respite from “dangerous temperatures,” and Continued on A7
Red, white, and blue plastered every corner of Martha’s Vineyard this weekend as Islanders and visitors celebrated the Fourth of July and 250 years of independence. Weekend events included the annual Fourth of July Parade in Aquinnah and Edgartown, the Edgartown fireworks, and a reading of Frederick Douglass’ speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” at the Tabernacle. See A8 and A9 for coverage of the weekend’s events.
How much more can the Island handle?
Hospital president enters first summer at the helm
Busy Fourth of July weekend raises questions of capacity.
Claire Seguin reflects on six months in leadership role.
BY HAYLEY DUFFY
BY SARAH SHAW DAWSON
NEWS ANALYS IS
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1.5-mile drive on Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road took 40 minutes. It felt impossible to send a text or get a call through. Parking at State Beach was haphazard and unattainable. Want a quick cup of coffee? Forget it. These inconveniences and disruptions didn’t overshadow the patriotic spirit of the annual parades and fireworks, but they did make it much more challenging to enjoy them. The chaos that came from the big crowds, a heat wave, and torrential rain in the past week also ushered in a tide of concern, forecast by local environmentalists at the Vineyard Conservation Society’s (VCS) annual meeting last Tuesday. They said that at the current rate of development, and based on land still available, the Island could become busier and even see a 50 percent population increase. That’s how much the land can host, but even now, the water quality in the Island’s coastal ponds is dismal, an exorbitant amount of organic waste isContinued shipped offon A15
Island, and money is continuously spent to upgrade facilities to meet an ever-increasing demand. And as the tangible geographic limits of the Island remain the same, more yearround residents, despite efforts otherwise, still struggle to find affordable housing. It all raises the question: How much more can the Island handle, or in more scientific terms, what is the Island’s carrying capacity? “There are absolutely no easy decisions, no easy answers that lie ahead for our Island community. We are experiencing unprecedented demands on our infrastructure, which has been neglected for generations … We are going to have to make tough decisions,” Ewell Hopkins, board president for VCS, said to the audience at Stillpoint in West Tisbury. The annual meeting, moderated by host of WCAI’s “The Point” Mindy Todd, titled “Islands Under Pressure: A Conversation About Our Land, Water, and Future” included a panel between Samantha Look, VCS Continued on A15
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laire Seguin is stepping into her first summer at the helm of the largest provider of heathcare for Martha’s Vineyard. As new president and chief operating officer, she has been leading it for the past six months. She took on the mantle just before the Island was rocked by winter storms that downed trees and blocked people into their homes, and when the weather warmed, she has seen a staggering increase in hospital visits for one of the busiest and hottest summers in recent memory. In other words, Seguin, nurses, physicians, lab technicians, and hospital administrators have been busy. Seguin started on the first day of 2026, after predecessor Denise Schepici retired at the end of 2025. Since Seguin took the helm, the Island community and the hospital have faced new and rising challenges in public health. Last Monday, The Times toured the hospital with Seguin to see what has changed, what has remained, and what values Seguin is carrying into the future of the main provider of primary Continued on A7
Claire Seguin inside the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. SARAH SHAW DAWSON © 2026
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