June 2025

NLEGENDARY JOURNALIST

AT THE NANTUCKET BOOK FESTIVAL

KEN BURNS BOB WOODWARD

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION RETOLD

INTRODUCING THE NANTUCKET PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

SOLVES ITS HOUSING NEEDS THE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB

AT 50 JAWS

AT THE NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL

S tunning C liff Retreat

6 & 8 Sherburne Turnpike

Cliff | 8 Bedrooms | 8 Full, 3 Half Bathrooms | $22,500,000

This distinguished estate lies in Nantucket’s prestigious Cliff neighborhood, offering exceptional privacy on nearly half an acre. Masterfully crafted by the esteemed Hehir Group, the property comprises a main residence, guest cottage, and garage studio, gracefully arranged around a heated pool, spa, and sauna, framed by beautiful landscaping and fieldstone walls.

The main house, updated in 2022, features 5 bedrooms, 4 full baths, and 3 half baths across 5,572 sq. ft. of refined living space. The guest cottage offers 2 bedrooms and 3 full baths within 2,360 sq. ft., providing elegant, self-contained accommodations. The garage studio includes 572 sq. ft. of finished space with a full bath, ideal for additional living or workspace, along with a 600+ sq. ft. garage for vehicles and seasonal storage.

Offering a roof walk with harbor views, seamless indoor-outdoor flow, and a prime location within close proximity to Steps Beach and historic downtown Nantucket, this exceptional property is as convenient as it is captivating. With over 1,500 square feet of remaining ground cover, there’s ample opportunity to expand and customize. A rare chance to own a premier Nantucket retreat that effortlessly combines classic coastal charm with modern luxury.

Jason Perkins Construction, Builder

Nantucket Excellence

Maxey Pond Road

@meglonerganinteriors meglonergan.com

Celebrating 30 Years

YOUR NEXT HOME AWAITS AT SANDPIPER PLACE II

The Landing is the neighborhood retreat designed for residents, offering a resort style atmosphere creating community and connection. Located in the heart of the neighborhood, The Landing raises the mast with island influenced serenity and thoughtfully planned curated spaces for time with family, friends, and community enjoyment. The clubhouse is both a retreat and an extended backyard for gatherings, among residents. Designed and furnished bringing resort style amenities to a cozy neighborhood setting.

3

HARBOUR

THE NANTUCKET CLUB

SITUATED DOWNTOWN, THE NEWLY RENOVATED NANTUCKET CLUB IS A SPECIAL PLACE TO PLAY, WORKOUT AND MINGLE.

It’s a place for your whole family to hangout, with two pools, a new and improved kids club and creative programming like Dive in Movies. And it’s a place to make new friends at all our events.

This year, the club has been beautifully renovated and now has new food and beverage offerings, more massage and spa services and other surprises.

ONE FAMILY POOL/KIDDIE POOL/CABANAS

ONE ADULT POOL

SUPERVISED KID’S CLUB – DAY AND EVENING FULLY EQUIPPED GYM

“DIVE-IN” FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT AT THE POOL

FOOD AND BEVERAGE SERVICE AT THE POOLS

SAUNA/HOT TUB

MASSAGES/FACIALS/SKINCARE

GROUP CLASSES AND PERSONAL TRAINING

CONCIERGE SERVICES

ANTIQUE FIRE TRUCK RIDES

WEEKLY AND SEASONAL FULL FAMILY MEMBERSHIPS NO INITIATION FEE !

CONTRIBUTORS

Meet the talented group of writers and photographers who helped make this issue possible.

BY THE NUMBERS

A numerical snapshot of Nantucket this spring.

N TOP TEN

All the places you need to be and see.

NECESSITIES

Put these items on your spring wish list.

NEAT STUFF

Check out the new Roastd at Airport Gas.

NEAT STUFF

Meet Nantucket’ s newest event company.

KID’N AROUND

How to keep your kiddos entertained this spring.

NBUZZ

All the news, tidbits and scuttlebutt that’s fit to print, courtesy of the Nantucket Current.

NEED TO READ

Tim Ehrenberg gives his spring reading list.

Style on Tap

DRESS: SARA CAMPBELL HAT: SOUTHERN TIDE

HEALTH N FITNESS

French

PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Bruce A. Percelay

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Brian Bushard

ART DIRECTOR

Paulette Chevalier

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING & PARTNERSHIPS

Emme Duncan

CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

Kit Noble

FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER

Brian Sager

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR

Lola Piuggi

NANTUCKET CURRENT

Jason Graziadei, Editor in Chief

David Creed, Sports Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

Darya Afshari Gault

Madeline Bilis

Jurgita Budaite

Tim Ehrenberg

Greta Feeney

Petra Hoffmann

Jen Laskey

Wendy Rouillard

John Stanielon

John Stanton

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Charity Grace Mofsen

Beowulf Sheehan

Chris Tran PUBLISHER

CHAIRMAN: Bruce A. Percelay

Rosa Rugosa Ring rosa Rugosa Earings

of DEMOCRACY The DISCOMFORTS

Democracy is not a given, it is a gift. We too often suffer under the delusion that our system of government is indestructible, when in fact it is quite fragile. Interviews in this issue of N Magazine with legendary investigative journalist, Bob Woodward, and preeminent documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, provide important perspectives and insights into how we have dealt with internal conflict and threats to our systems of democracy in the past.

As uncomfortable as it can be for us to live in tumultuous times, internal division and political discord are not new to the American experience but have actually been part of the experience since our nation’s founding. Our country has continually gone through times of internal division, and what we are experiencing today is no exception.

Ken Burns reminds us that the Revolutionary War was not some kind of unifying event where people joined together to fight a common enemy, but was actually quite the opposite. Burns viewed the revolution instead as a civil war where people were either loyalists or patriots, where neighbors fought neighbors and families were divided.

Bob Woodward shared a similar theme in his interview with N Magazine, reminding us that the events of Watergate and the ultimate impeachment of former President Richard Nixon posed genuine threats to our system and put a pall over the highest office in the land. Woodward also recounted the deep divisions caused by the Vietnam War and the current political divide

that many feel has been exacerbated by President Donald Trump.

BRUCE A. PERCELAY Publisher

Both Burns and Woodward have provided a profound service to us all by documenting the history of the American experiment and its flaws. By the same token, their collective wisdom yields the same conclusion, that we have been there before and have come through on the other side without losing our national direction. Theirs is a message of both caution and hope. In the words of Mark Twain, “History never repeats itself but it does often rhyme.”

As Chairman of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute of the U.S. Senate with a board that consists of 10 former U.S. Senators, half Republican half Democrat, I have learned that what unites us is far more powerful than what divides us, and that division, occasional violent moments and political discord are not necessarily signs that our country is falling apart at the seams but rather is a manifestation of a free society and one that eventually regains its footing.

Publisher

Brian SAGER

Brian Sager is a commercial photographer known for his portraiture, editorial features and luxury event work. His photography is defined by creative use of light, technical precision and a collaborative spirit. His fine art work— deeply inspired by the ocean and coastal life—can be seen at Sager Fine Art, the gallery he runs with his wife, Carey, in Cohasset, as well as at Artists Association of Nantucket events and other exhibitions and collections. Through his passion for life on the water as a former lifeguard and sailing coach, as well as his role as fashion photographer for N Magazine , Sager has built a personal and enduring connection to the island. briansagerfineart.com.

Madeline BILIS

Madeline Bilis is a writer and editor based in Boston. Her work has appeared in Boston magazine, Travel + Leisure, Architectural Digest and The Wall Street Journal , among other outlets. She grew up outside of Worcester, Massachusetts, and graduated from Emerson College with a degree in journalism. Madeline is the author of the guidebook 50 Hikes in Eastern Massachusetts and can often be found exploring lesser-known trails in Greater Boston and on the Cape and islands. She covers travel, design and other lifestyle topics, but relishes the opportunity to tell stories about New England and its people. madelinebilis.com.

J ohn STANTON

John Stanton is a journalist and documentary filmmaker. He was previously the editor of Nantucket Today and an award-winning reporter for The Inquirer and Mirror, where he covered town and state politics, the island’s Spanish-speaking population and the impacts of sea-level rise, erosion and ocean acidification. He married an islander, Marianne Stanton, almost 40 years ago, and they raised three now-grown children together. For this issue of N Magazine, he writes about the 50th anniversary of Jaws and the legacy of the first Hollywood blockbuster.

nantucket by the numbers

10,000 bushels

The number of scallops hauled during the 2024-2025 commercial bay scalloping season, a seven-year high.

3:19:52

Jim Congdon’s time in the 129th Boston Marathon in April, making the 62-year-old the fastest islander to compete in the marathon.

1975

The year Jaws was released, based on the novel by Peter Benchley. The Nantucket Film Festival will commemorate the anniversary this June.

25th

Stubbys’ anniversary this year, marking a quarter century on Broad Street.

27%

The dip in short-term rental tax revenue the town collected from summer 2023 to summer 2024, generating $3.5 million in taxes from June through August last year.

9.5 Million $

The price tag for the White Heron Theatre, which was sold this spring to the Nantucket Performing Arts Center.

23

The number of books written by journalist Bob Woodward, who will take part in the Nantucket Book Festival this June.

11

The number of North Atlantic right whale calves born this season, a sign of hope for the critically endangered species whose population has dwindled to 370.

371,067 $

The cost of repairing a collapsed concrete dolphin that was submerged in Nantucket Harbor off Steamboat Wharf this spring.

55

The number of feature and short films in the Nantucket Film Festival lineup this year for its 30th anniversary.

Events for June 10

6/4-21

TWN’S THE COTTAGE

Bennett Hall

The Theatre Workshop of Nantucket’s 2025 season kicks off with a brand-new play fresh from Broadway. TheCottage, by playwright Sandy Rustin, is an outrageous and hilarious romantic comedy that tells a story of infidelity, betrayal and faith when one woman exposes her own affair to her husband. theatrenantucket.org

6/8-9

SAM SYLVIA GOLF TOURNAMENT

Sankaty Head Golf Club

The 32nd annual Sam Sylvia Golf Tournament is the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club’s premier charity event, bringing golfers to Sankaty Head Golf Club for a day on the links, with proceeds supporting the organization’s early childhood education, academic and athletic programming, as well as staff development and its summer camp. nantucketboysandgirlsclub.org

6/9-14

AAN PLEIN AIR NANTUCKET

Big Gallery, Straight Wharf

A great way to spend time outdoors, the Artists Association of Nantucket’s annual Plein Air festival invites artists to seek inspiration from Nantucket’s harbors, landscapes and seascapes, with freshly painted works on display and for sale at the AAN Big Gallery on Straight Wharf. nantucketarts.org

6/12

PASCON DREAMCATCHER

Nantucket Yacht Club

Join the PASCON Foundation for a night of incredible food, raffle prizes and a private auction at the Nantucket Yacht Club from 6-9 p.m.—the best way to support Palliative & Supportive Care of Nantucket, a specialized health care program for families living with serious illnesses. pascon.org

6/12-15

NANTUCKET

BOOK FESTIVAL

Whether it’s a beach read, mystery or biography you’re looking for, the Nantucket Book Festival has you covered with a series of author readings, panel discussions, book signings and workshops featuring world-class authors such as Carl Hiaasen, Imani Perry, Jason Reynolds, Ocean Vuong, Bob Woodward and many more. nantucketbookfestival.org

6/21-22

HAPPY PLACE: A WELLNESS SYMPOSIUM

Dreamland

Happy Place: A Wellness Symposium, a reimagined Nantucket Yoga Festival, is making its debut over two mindful and reflective days at the Dreamland with a new name and a new message, helping to raise participants’ consciousness and create the blueprint for a happier and healthier life. nantucketdreamland.org

6/25-30

NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL

Celebrating 30 years this June, the Nantucket Film Festival showcases the best of the best in independent film and screenwriting, with six days of feature and short film screenings, panel discussions, workshops and talks with industry insiders and Hollywood stars. nantucketfilmfestival.org

6/27

NHA BASKETS, BUBBLES & BOURBON

Now with a bourbon tasting, the Nantucket Historical Association’s annual fundraiser celebrates the maritime tradition of Nantucket lightship baskets, featuring a curated selection of work from island artists and craftspeople. nha.org

6/28

RACE FOR OPEN SPACE

Milestone Cranberry Bog

On your marks, get set, go! The Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s annual fundraiser invites runners and walkers alike to a race around the Milestone Cranberry Bog and into the vast network of conservation properties that make up the Middle Moors. nantucketconservation.org

6/28

SHOOT FOR THE STARS

Great Harbor Yacht Club

Join Nantucket Sports & Therapeutic Accessible Recreation (S.T.A.R.) from 5-7 p.m. at the Great Harbor Yacht Club for an empowering night as the organization fundraises for an accessible van for its specialized programs for children with special needs—programs that build children’s confidence, developmental skills and independence. nantucketstar.org

INTERIORS

ANCHORS AWAY INTERCOASTAL SHORT SLEEVE SPORT SHIRT

With a button-down collar and left chest pocket, this dress shirt makes a great addition to any vacation outfit, whether you are water-bound or on solid ground. Breathable fabric and comfortable stretch technology keep you comfortable day in and day out.

SOUTHERN TIDE @southerntide southerntide.com

CANNABIS INFUSED OLIVE OIL

It’s cocktail party season on Nantucket and instead of bringing a typical bottle of wine, gift your host with THC infused olive oil from local dispensary Ack Natural. This Dinner At Mary’s cold-pressed EVOO is so good, you might just want to keep it for yourself!

ACK NATURAL @acknatural acknatural.com

STERLING SILVER 2” BARNACLE SCALLOP SHELL

Cast from a Quaise beach scallop shell, this beautiful and unique piece from Heidi Weddendorf makes a statement. Available with or without necklace wire, you can add the shell to an existing chain and carry a little piece of Nantucket around your neck.

HEIDI WEDDENDORF @heidiweddendorf heidiweddendorf.com

JURA S8

The JURA S8 automatic coffee machine combines a modern design with easy-to-use swipe controls, and prepares up to 27 coffee specialities from espresso to flat white. Perfect for those mornings you need a pick-me-up before heading to The Hub, it also features a sweet foam function for infusing milk foam with a hint of flavored syrup!

SUMMER WISH LIST

JURA • @jura_coffee_us • jura.com

VOKEY DESIGN SM10 WEDGES WITH OIL CAN FINISH

Summer is here and you can’t go wrong with a sweet linen maxi dress with adjustable straps and side pockets. Whether you’re getting sand in your toes, grabbing an afternoon drink at Cisco or heading out to dinner, this baby blue number will be your perfect companion!

REMY CREATIONS

@remycreations remycreations.com

Titleist unveils its new, limited-edition Oil Can finish, now available with the performance and technology of Vokey Design SM10 wedges. Vokey Design is the most played and best-selling wedge in golf, and now features 27 different loft, bounce and grind combinations to fit a variety of swing types, styles of play and course conditions. VOKEY DESIGN • @vokeywedges • vokey.com

IIt wasn’t always the case that some of the best coffee on the island could be found at the gas station by the airport. But that’s exactly what you can find at Airport Gas. After receiving a full makeover, Airport Gas is now far from just a gas station. It’s a one-stop destination, and now, it’s also the second location of Roastd General Store.

REFUEL

IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

Airport Gas Partners With Roastd

“When redesigning this site, we thought about convenience, ease and accessibility,” said Keena Boling, marketing director of Island Energy Services, which owns Airport Gas. “You have access to everything at one stop— fill up your propane tank, grab a delicious coffee, maybe grab some freshly made sandwiches for the beach, a bag of ice for the cooler and groceries for later. Nantucket is busy in the summer and people want to make the most of their time on the island.”

In addition to the gas pumps, Airport Gas also features air for your tires, vacuums, a two-bay car wash, bagged ice and propane. It’s a spot for everything you need for the beach—or your first stop once you arrive on the island.

In addition to its signature specialty coffee, freshly made breakfast, baked goods and patisserie items, Roastd carries an assortment of grocery staples such as produce, fresh meat, fish and dairy products, along with specialty charcuterie and dinner party items. “After landing at the Airport, visitors can swing by and grab a delicious coffee after an early morning flight and simple grocery items to hold them over until they do their big grocery shop or head into town.”

Starting this June, Roastd will also offer gourmet dinners to-go, including Jamaican Jerk chicken and pork, as well as Focaccia pizza. “Roastd's goal in partnering with Airport Gas was to provide a convenient way to get high-quality food and beverages year-round,” said Jon Zack from Roastd. “The idea is you can grab all the food and drinks you need to-go on a busy schedule. And with plenty of on-site parking, you can sit on the new four-season covered porch and enjoy.”

Roastd General Store at Airport Gas (10 Airport Road) is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

SCAN FOR MORE INFO

Airport Gas also features a self-service car wash, vacuums, air, ice and Roastd's second island location.

D ionis Waterfront

Eel Point Road

Welcome to your dream beachfront home! This stunning property features an expansive open-concept living space that seamlessly integrates the kitchen, dining, and living areas, perfect for both entertaining and relaxing. Elegant French doors open to a generous patio with direct access to a private walkway leading to the beach, offering unparalleled views and immediate access to the oceanfront. The first floor boasts a luxurious primary suite with a spacious ensuite bathroom, a beautifully designed walk-in closet, and a built-in vanity. Additionally, a charming twin room with its own ensuite bathroom is located off the mud/laundry room, complete with a private exterior exit and an outdoor shower. An adjacent office with a half bathroom provides a versatile space for work or leisure. The second floor includes a serene queen bedroom with a private ensuite bathroom, a cozy living space with a balcony overlooking the beach and ocean, and another balcony at the front of the house with scenic views of the lush yard and conservation land across the street. A full bedroom and a charming twin room share a well-appointed hall bathroom. The partially finished basement offers ample storage space and potential for future expansion, while the finished gym room is ready for your workouts, ensuring you stay fit and healthy without leaving home. Experience the perfect blend of luxury and functionality in this exceptional coastal property, where every detail is designed for your comfort and enjoyment.

A NEW ERA FOR ISLAND EVENTS

Three iconic island businesses merge and rebrand

There’s a new name in the Nantucket event scene. The new company, called Nantucket Event Co., has combined some of the biggest names in island events under the same umbrella, the culmination of a major merger in the Nantucket event space, and just in time for summer. The new company combines Nantucket Tents, Placesetters and Soiree Floral. N Magazine caught up with Nantucket Event Co.’s owner, Alec LeFort, who led the move and now heads the new company, to discuss the acquisition, and his goals for the new consolidated company.

Tell us about the consolidation of Nantucket Tents, Placesetters and Soiree Floral into Nantucket Event Company. Our overarching philosophy at Nantucket Event Co. is to always think about how we can make the customer experience better. By consolidating the three businesses under one roof and providing a truly endto-end service, we can greatly simplify and streamline the purchasing, planning and execution of any event on Nantucket.

How do you approach supporting events to meet unique demands, especially in a place like Nantucket? We are incredibly fortunate to have over 30 years of experience on the island, which is critical to ensure that these complicated events are a success. Most importantly, we rely heavily on our longstanding relationships with the leading local planners, venues and vendors on the island to navigate the significant nuances of an on-island event.

Tell us about your background, and how you made it to Nantucket.

What sets Nantucket Event Company apart on an island known for its events?

I have been an entrepreneur my entire career and love building and operating businesses. My family is based right across the Sound in Jamestown, Rhode Island, and I have spent a ton of time on the island over the years. The opportunity to own and operate these businesses in a place close to my heart and my personal interests— sailing and surfing—is so unique and exciting.

What are your goals with the new company?

The combination of our three legacy businesses has allowed us to significantly expand our capacity and reach. Through this integration, we've built a larger team, streamlined our operations and revamped our online presence with the new nantucketeventco.com website. Also, the strategic purchase of Sperry Tents of South Florida (now Palm Beach Event Company) based in Palm Beach, Florida brings fantastic seasonal, geographic and customer base synergies.

Nantucket has long been a wedding destination and a place for galas, festivals and fetes. Have you seen a change in the event space on the island?

I can’t imagine a better event destination than Nantucket, and that’s not changing anytime soon. While the design and aesthetics of events will continue to evolve, the island’s charm and appeal will always be at the heart of it all. We’re committed to evolving alongside new trends while staying true to the island’s roots.

What really sets us apart starts with our team—we’ve got a group of incredibly experienced people who know Nantucket like the back of their hand and genuinely love what they do. We’re also the island’s exclusive provider of Sperry Sailcloth Tents, which are such a beautiful fit for events here. And beyond that, we offer pretty much everything under one roof—from tents and flooring to furniture, décor, and floral design— which makes the whole process so much easier for our clients.

What are you most excited about for the company heading into the season?

We’re going into the season with a really clear game plan and just want to execute at a high level. With the new name, refreshed brand presence, and some exciting additions to our inventory, the overall energy within the team is incredibly high. We’re especially looking forward to welcoming clients into our newly renovated showroom at 28 Centre Street where they can meet with the team and check out the full inventory.

SCAN FOR MORE INFO

HOP ABOARD WITH THE EGAN MARITIME INSTITUTE

The Egan Maritime Institute is packing a fun-filled summer full of exciting programs for families and children of all ages, starting with its Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum on Polpis Road—a replica of the U.S. Life Saving stations from Nantucket’s past that’s dedicated to telling the story of the island’s history of shipwrecks and rescuers. And don’t miss the one and only Lizza Obremski, of Nanpuppets, for a lively and engaging performance aboard the tall ship Lynx on June 13 from 10-11:15 a.m. Nanpuppets will also be at the Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum on June 28 for story time with the Egan Maritime Institute’s mascot, Marshall the Sea Dog, from 9:30-10:15 a.m. (free admission). eganmaritime.org, @eganmaritime

SUMMER FUN AT THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Be sure to visit the Nantucket Historical Association’s Whaling Museum this summer, which features exciting new crafts and performances at its Family Discovery Center. The NHA’s featured exhibition this year, Behind the Seams: Clothing and Textiles on Nantucket, is also open for the summer, with interactive activities and learning opportunities for people of all ages to enjoy. The NHA also offers two daily programs with their museum guides: “Life Aboard a Whaleship” and the famous “Essex Gam”—both sure to teach you a thing or two about Nantucket’s whaling past. These presentations are fun for the whole family. Island families enjoy free admission yearround. nha.org, @ackhistory

@barnabystoyandart

EXPLORE,

DISCOVER, AND LEARN WITH THE MARIA MITCHELL

ASSOCIATION

One of the must-do family activities on Nantucket is visiting the Maria Mitchell Association’s properties, which are perfect for handson exploration and fun for all ages. The Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium (now at 32 Washington Street), as well as the Hinchman House Natural Science Museum, the Historic Mitchell House, the MMA Research Center and the Loines Observatory all open on June 9 for the 2025 summer season. Families can enjoy popular programs like “Feeding Frenzy” at the aquarium, “Ravenous Reptiles” at the Hinchman House, and observe the night sky at the Loines Observatory. mariamitchell.org, @maria_mitchell_association

SUMMER FASHION FROM PEACHTREE KIDS

Peachtree Kids is Nantucket's favorite children’s shop, located at the foot of historic cobblestoned Main Street. Peachtree carries timeless classics and the latest fashions for infants and children through size 14, including clothing, swimwear, shoes, accessories, toys, and their iconic Nantucket Rollneck sweater. Peachtree Kids supports small, women-owned and sustainable brands including Sammy + Nat, Joy Street Kids, Nantucket Kids, Maddie & Connor, Lake Label, Timo & Violet, Smockingbird and Bits & Bows. They also feature brands native to Nantucket such as Piping Prints, Tiny Tuckets, Barnaby Bear, Nikki Rene Designs & Liliput Vintage. Stop by on your way to Nanpuppets at the Atheneum for all Nanpuppet merchandise. Open daily 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at 19 Main Street. peachtreekidsnantucket.com, @peachtreekidsnantucke

THIRD UNDERSEA CABLE MAY BE NEEDED SOON

ACK FOR WHALES

SURFSIDE CROSSING CHALLENGES VINEYARD WIND—AGAIN PLAN DENIED

Nantucket-based group ACK for Whales launched its latest challenge against Vineyard Wind in April, petitioning Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to rescind the 62-turbine project’s construction and operations plan, which had been approved in the waning days of the Biden administration. The petition came just hours after President Donald Trump’s administration halted construction on an offshore wind project off Long Island, and one month after ACK for Whales filed a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency to revoke the Vineyard Wind Clean Air Act permit. ACK for Whales ramped up its efforts to oppose the Vineyward Wind project after the 2024 blade failure that left foam and other materials on Nantucket's beaches.

A new report found Nantucket could need a third undersea electric cable to the mainland much sooner than town officials and its utility provider National Grid expected. The island’s peak demand for electricity is growing at five times the Massachusetts statewide average, leading the town and National Grid to conclude a third undersea cable will be necessary by 2033. A previous estimate had anticipated the third cable would not be needed until 2044. The project could cost more than $200 million. The potential failure of one of the two existing undersea cables became a realworld situation in May 2024 when the original cable that runs to Harwich failed and was offline for nearly two weeks.

Nantucket’s Zoning Board of Appeals denied the controversial Surfside Crossing 40B housing development off South Shore Road in April, following years of opposition from neighbors, the Nantucket Land & Water Council and Nantucket Tipping Point. In a unanimous 5-0 decision, the ZBA called out the developers of the 156-unit housing project for an alleged failure to compromise and raised a host of concerns about the project’s effect on water quality and public access. The ZBA’s decision, which came after hearings that spanned more than six months, was immediately met with an appeal by Surfside Crossing developers Jamie Feeley and Josh Posner, who will ask the state Housing Appeals Committee to overturn the ZBA’s denial.

STEAMBOAT WHARF DOLPHIN COLLAPSES

A massive concrete dolphin at Steamboat Wharf collapsed into Nantucket Harbor in April after it was hit by a departing ferry, forcing the Steamship Authority to indefinitely shut down the north slip and launch an investigation into the incident. The 10-foot structure, one of 11 at Steamboat Wharf that were installed decades ago to assist the Steamship Authority vessels while docking, was submerged just one to two feet below the waterline. Following the collapse, Steamship Authority officials said the repair contract with Coastal Marine Construction LLC came in at $371,067, with a dive inspection of the pilings costing another $32,000.

TOWN MEETING REJECTS

SHORT-TERM RENTALS,

ENDS MEDIA MONOPOLY

BAY SCALLOP CATCH HITS

SEVEN-YEAR HIGH

In a welcome sign for Nantucket’s dwindling commercial scalloping fleet, the island’s bay scallop count for the 2024-2025 season topped 10,000 bushels for the first time since the 2017-2018 season. An abundance of adult scallops

The island’s stalemate on short-term rentals continued at Annual Town Meeting as all four proposals on vacation rentals were defeated. It marked the sixth straight Town Meeting in which island residents have been unable to resolve the most difficult questions surrounding short-term rentals on Nantucket: how to incorporate them into the zoning code. In a separate vote, residents at Town Meeting overwhelmingly approved a proposal sponsored by the Nantucket Current to give the town the option to advertise public hearings in print or online publications, effectively ending a media monopoly held for years by The Inquirer and Mirror.

in the harbors prompted state and local officials to grant requests to both raise the per-day bushel limit for fishermen and extend the season to April 11. The season was marked by cold temperatures that resulted in the loss of nearly two weeks of fishing and the continued decline in the number of commercial scallopers on the water. The tally represents a 15% increase over last season’s total of 8,709 bushels and comes in well above the 3,000 bushels collected in 2018-2019, an all-time low—though it’s a drop in the bucket of the 40,000-plus bushels collected regularly each year in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

Tim Ehrenberg of “Tim Talks Books” gives you his top 10 picks for June

SCAN HERE to connect with @TimTalksBooks

For even more book recommendations from our Nantucket Book Festival lineup, follow @timtalksbooks on Instagram. All books are available at Mitchell’s Book Corner and Nantucket Bookworks or online at nantucketbookpartners.com.

CLEAVAGE

BY

JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN

MEMORIAL DAYS BY GERALDINE BROOKS

HOW TO LOSE YOUR MOTHER

BY

MOLLY JONG-FAST

BLACK IN BLUES BY IMANI PERRY

While you will usually find my nose stuck in the pages of a good novel, autobiography is a genre I also devour. I have always compared reading to walking in someone else’s shoes, and nowhere is this description more accurate than in the pages of a memoir. Jennifer Finney Boylan is bearing it all in Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us. She dives into the divisions and common ground between the genders and her experience as a transgender American. Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of March, returns to bookshelves this year with Memorial Days, a heartrending memoir of marriage, grief and the journey toward peace from the loss of her husband, the celebrated journalist Tony Horwitz. From political writer and podcaster Molly JongFast comes an exposé on her reckoning with her complicated childhood and her relationship with her mother, Erica Jong, in How to Lose Your Mother. National Book Award winner Imani Perry goes beyond the personal and pens a memoir and meditation on the color blue and its fascinating role in Black history and culture in Black in Blues

Don’t miss all four memoirists discussing these intimate, heartfelt stories at their individual Nantucket Book Festival events June 12-15.

THE RIVER IS WAITING BY WALLY LAMB

Ask any bibliophile what their top five favorite books of all time are and you will see them panic. How is it possible to choose? My “Top Five Books List” changes weekly, but one pick that has always stayed put is Wally Lamb’s I Know This Much Is True. I am beyond thrilled to welcome Lamb to the Nantucket Book Festival this month to discuss his first novel in eight years, The River Is Waiting, hitting the stands June 10, the week of the festival. It’s a propulsive story of a young father who, after an unfathomable tragedy, reckons with the possibility of atonement for the unforgivable. With themes that focus on addiction, the American prison system and forgiveness, the novel demonstrates the transformative power of fiction and how it nurtures emotional intelligence, empathy and connection. Like all of Lamb’s novels, the book is brutally sad at times, but he always manages to find faith, hope and light in the darkness.

I will be in conversation with Wally Lamb on Friday, June 13, at 11 a.m. at the Nantucket United Methodist Church (schedule subject to change).

FEVER BEACH BY CARL HIAASEN

Carl Hiaasen has been described as “America’s finest satirical novelist” by The London Observer His most recent novel, Fever Beach, tackles the current chaotic and polarized American culture in a laugh-out-loud plot with zany characters on every page. Hiaasen’s books are always entertaining and must-reads for me. They make you think, “There is no way this could happen” or “People don’t do these things”—that is, until you turn on the news and realize truth is often stranger than fiction. Hiaasen brings the state of Florida to life in a way only a native Floridian could, with good humor and his signature style. Fever Beach features the characters Figgo, Twilly and Viva, with a largerthan-life supporting cast, in a tale of right-wing extremism, greed and corruption. Once you finish it, race to the nearest bookstore for Squeeze Me and Bad Monkey, two other Hiaasen crowd-pleasers. Carl isn’t just a writer for adults— check out his No. 1 New York Times bestseller and Newbery Honor winner, Hoot. He’s a writer for the whole family.

Elin Hilderbrand and I will be in conversation with Carl Hiaasen on Saturday, June 14, at 11 a.m. at the Methodist Church for a special live recording of our podcast, “Books, Beach, & Beyond” (schedule subject to change).

THE EMPEROR OF GLADNESS BY OCEAN VUONG

When I read Ocean Vuong’s 2019 debut novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, I knew the literary world had just welcomed someone special. The author’s name and the book’s title alone are like beautiful miniature poems. His sophomore novel, The Emperor of Gladness, produces the same gorgeous prose and poignant passages in every paragraph. You’ll find yourself underlining phrases as they lift off the page and resonate in your mind and heart. Featuring characters that become a part of us and people you think about long after the story ends, this novel is about chosen families, unexpected friendships, what it means to exist on the fringes of society, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. I will never look at carrots, bread rolls or fast-food restaurants and their employees the same way again. Occasionally, you can read a piece of literature that shifts your way of thinking about the world. I’m glad to say this is one of them. Don’t miss Vuong’s poetry collections Time Is a Mother and Night Sky with Exit Wounds. I will be in conversation with Ocean Vuong on Saturday, June 14, at 3 p.m. at the Methodist Church (schedule subject to change).

COLEMAN HILL BY KIM COLEMAN FOOTE

THE STORY SHE LEFT BEHIND BY PATTI CALLAHAN

HENRY

JACKIE BY DAWN TRIPP

GOOD DIRT

BY CHARMAINE WILKERSON

I revere historical fiction because I believe that the stories from the past guide us in our present, giving us the tools to understand ourselves and our place in the world. Kim Coleman Foote’s Coleman Hill draws from the author’s own family legend and historical record to tell an unforgettable saga set in 1916. The novel is told in nine voices, and each perspective makes you feel like you’re part of the Coleman clan, joining in their conversations, struggles and dreams. Patti Callahan Henry centers her writing on the power of stories to move and change us, and The Story She Left Behind is perfect proof of this. Inspired by a true literary mystery, the novel takes us back to 1927 with a legendary book, a lost mother and a daughter’s search for them both. Jackie by Dawn Tripp is an intimate investigation into the very heart and soul of one of the most famous women of the 20th century, Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. The research and writing in this fictionalized biography is absolutely masterful. You can feel Jackie in between the prose. Good Dirt, by Charmaine Wilkerson who also penned the Read with Jenna selection Black Cake, connects the past to the present in this tale of a childhood tragedy and a beloved family heirloom from the 1800s. I will never forget the Freeman family and this epic generational saga.

Connect with all four historical novelists at their Nantucket Book Festival events June 12-15.

Quick and Convenient Medical Care on Nantucket

Urgent Access at Nantucket Cottage Hospital provides walk-in medical care for non-life-threatening conditions.

Urgent Access is located in the Anderson Building on the hospital campus at 57 Prospect Street. Visit nantuckethospital.org/urgentaccess for hours and more information.

Brittany Packard, Lead LPN, Jayne Culkins, PA-C, and Steven Kohler, MD.

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Rediscovering

BLUEFISH

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Chef Andre Miller of The Chanticleer offers a new take on an overlooked fish.

As waters warm in June and bluefish and striped bass make their annual migration, the shallows of Nantucket once again become their feeding grounds, and inshore fishing yields plentiful catches of young bluefish and striped bass, or “schoolies.” While the larger, highly prized “keepers” will make their journey here later in the summer, young bluefish, often disregarded as junk-fish or thought of as only good for smoking, can make fantastic eating.

Bluefish have an incredibly similar—and healthy—fat content and makeup as salmon (about

1.2% omega-3 fatty acids). This, plus the high moisture content of their flesh, can make these fish spoil faster than most other common game fish. Proper cleaning and icing after catching is integral to maintaining its quality. If buying bluefish from a monger, look for firm small filets (the younger the milder); grainy or mushy fish is a result of poor handling.

This recipe focuses on spring ingredients grown on Nantucket. Peas, asparagus, radishes and young alliums, often associated with the earlier months of spring, are in peak season and supply here on the island.

Spring “Niçoise” Salad and Fennel-and-Coriander-Crusted Bluefish with

a Martini

Vinaigrette

INGREDIENTS

• 1½-2 pounds young, fresh, skin-off bluefish filets, cut into 6-8 ounce portions

• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground fennel seed

• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground coriander

• 2 bunches asparagus

• 1 bunch hakurei turnips

• 1 bunch mixed radishes

• 1 cup snap peas

• ½ pound green beans

• 1 pound fingerling new potatoes

• 1 cup Castelvetrano olives (torn in half)

• ½ cup capers

• 2 tablespoons gin

• 8 ounces pea shoots

• 1 head radicchio, cut into one-inch strips

• ¼ cup picked tarragon

• ¼ cup picked mint

• ¼ cup picked parsley

• ¼ cup picked dill

• 4 soft-boiled eggs, boiled for 6 minutes and 15 seconds and shocked in ice water

• 4 tablespoons green olive brine

• ½ cup lemon juice

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1 garlic clove, microplaned

• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons gin

• 1 sprig rosemary, finely chopped

• ½ teaspoon ground coriander

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

2 3 4 5 6 7 1

Prepare the martini vinaigrette. Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

Prepare the potatoes. Cover the washed potatoes with cold salted water, bring to a simmer and allow to cook for 10-15 minutes until just tender. Cool, cut in half and set aside.

Prepare the vegetables. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Remove the bottom, fibrous section from the asparagus. Cut small radishes and turnips in halves or quarters and slice larger ones thinly on a mandoline. Remove strings and stems from the green beans and snap peas.

Add all of the green vegetables to the blanching water for 60-90 seconds until just tender. Immediately place in an ice bath to stop cooking.

Cook the bluefish. Season and crust the inside of the bluefish portion liberally with salt, pepper, coriander and fennel seed.

Heat a large pan over high heat. Once the pan is hot, add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, and carefully place bluefish (seasoned flesh side down) in the pan and sear over high heat for 2-3 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Flip over, remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of gin to the pan. Place the pan back over low heat for 2-3 minutes or allow the fish to rest in the hot pan to finish cooking.

Dress the salad and plate. In a large mixing bowl, combine the radicchio, vegetables and half of the picked herbs. Season and dress with the martini vinaigrette. Divide among 4 plates. Using the same bowl, add the halved potatoes, capers, olives and remaining herbs. Dress again with the vinaigrette and divide among the 4 plates. Place 1 piece of bluefish on each plate and garnish with pea shoots, the remaining vinaigrette and the torn or cut eggs.

MARTINI VINAIGRETTE

Photo courtesy of Andre Miller

CHOICE

WRITTEN BY JEN LASKEY

A BARTENDER’S

Three must-try drink picks from local purveyors.

s we shake off the early “June-uary” weather and gear up for the official start of summer, it’s more than just a change in temperature we need to get ready for. June marks a total sensory shift—from gray days to blue skies, a sleepy downtown to bustling cobblestone streets—and a slew of events suddenly vying for time on our social calendars. Besides a proliferation of Nantucket reds and lightship baskets, June also brings a new rotation of flavors into the mix.

Restaurant menus lighten up with more farm-fresh, produce-driven dishes. Drink lists also get a seasonal revamp with lighter, brighter, spritzy and tropical tipples. Whatever your so-called summer water of choice, Nantucket bartenders, sommeliers and shopkeepers can help you source it. Ask them what they’re excited about, too. They might just turn you on to your new favorite drink of the month. From a German sparkler to a chillable Italian red and a cold-brew cocktail, here’s a taste of the Nantucket drinks that pros are thrilled to pour, shake and sip this June.

HILD, Elbling Sekt, NV, $22/bottle

Recommended by CHRIS SLEEPER, co-founder & wine buyer, Pip & Anchor

“Hild's sparkling Elbling is refreshing and tropical with some lemon zest to wet your whistle on a warm summer day,” said Chris Sleeper. Using the same winemaking process as Champagne, Matthias Hild and his son Jonas produce this light-bodied, zippy bubbly in the Obermosel, in Germany’s Mosel region. Unlike the rest of the region, which is known for its slate soils and ultracrisp riesling-based wines, this area is full of chalky limestone, which makes the soils more like those in Chablis or Sancerre in France. Here, the ancient grape elbling is king.

“The incredible mineral and acid structure explodes on the palate and is begging to accompany some Island Creek Littleneck Clams on the beach,” said Sleeper. “The wine highlights the sweetness and brininess of the clams while cooling you down because those clams can be a little spicy.” Sleeper reveres summer on Nantucket for being “a celebration of the greatest community in New England.” For him, it’s all about collectively coming together to host an epic season-long party. “This wine works with an island summer's greatest moments— long, hot beach days, a sunset sail, cool evening bonfire, or while shucking oysters on a milk crate.”

VIGNETI LUIGI ODDERO E FIGLI, Convento Langhe Rosso, 2022, $18/glass ($68/bottle)

Recommended by MELISSA LAYMAN, bar manager, Pi Pizzeria

Not everyone thinks of red wine as a “summer sipper,” but this organically farmed Nebbiolo blend from the family winemaking estate of Luigi Oddero in the village of La Morra in northwestern Italy is a “bull’s-eye,” said Melissa Layman. “It’s dry and light-bodied with medium acidity, and fruit-forward notes of dark berries and violets.” She recommends pairing it with salty cured meats, rich cheeses, red sauce pizza and pasta, or even a creamy slice of cheesecake.

Serve Convento on the cooler side, around 52-55 degrees Fahrenheit, Layman suggests. If ordering the wine out, “Don’t be afraid to ask the purveyor to chill your glass

or bottle before you enjoy it,” she said. In addition to the wine’s aromas in the glass, Layman looks forward to breathing in the intoxicating aromatics of Nantucket’s summer air. “It hits and envelops you when you first set foot on-island—that arid mix of honeysuckle, beach plum and sea salt,” she said, likening it to a sensory hug that’s complemented by “some of the resonant wines of the season.” Take her advice and pour a glass of Convento, then give it a swirl and a sniff, and savor the unique combination of olfactory sensations that can only be experienced here.

Recommended by SAMANTHA WATSON, Lead bartender, Sister Ship BLACK TIDE, $20

Need a little pick-me-up at cocktail hour? Samantha Watson has got an ultra cool cocktail for you. Her Black Tide is a savory sipper with just a hint of sweetness that takes the espresso martini and brings it to the next level. Watson swaps in Japanese whiskey and cold brew for the usual vodka and espresso, adds black sesame syrup for a little complexity, and then tops it off with a delicate little cloud of coconut foam.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ounces Japanese whiskey

• 1 ounce cold brew

• 1 ounce black sesame syrup*

• Dollop of coconut foam

She loves to pair the Black Tide with Sister Ship’s Dark Chocolate Budino, a decadent chocolate mousse with coffee whipped cream, salted almond praline and fleur de sel. But it also makes a great nightcap, she said. “If you’re outdoors, by the fire with a few friends listening to Khruangbin and just vibing, this drink will instantly put a smile on your face.” This is exactly the kind of thing Watson thinks makes summer on Nantucket so special. “It brings everyone together again to share fun memories and silly stories,” she said. “And you never feel like time has passed.”

INSTRUCTIONS

• Combine the whiskey, black sesame syrup and cold brew in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake.

• Serve over ice, and top with coconut foam.

BLACK SESAME SYRUP

• Prepare equal parts sugar, water and black sesame paste (keep the paste separate for now).

• Make a simple syrup, combining the sugar and water, and simmering it over medium heat.

• Remove from heat, then blend the simple syrup with the black sesame paste, using either a traditional or immersion blender.

• Strain out any solids, let cool and store leftover syrup in the fridge.

Photo by Jen Laskey

FRIED

AND TRUE

WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

STUBBYS CELEBRATES 25 YEARS ON BROAD STREET

Not every restaurant makes it 10 years, let alone 25 years, especially on an island where restaurant turnover has become the name of the game. Stubbys, the little fry shop by the Steamship, has become one of those restaurants. Now in its 25th season, Stubbys is an institution on Broad Street, a stomping ground for islanders and visitors alike—a place for people from all walks of life to enjoy a simple hamburger or chicken fingers and fries.

Jim Weiman, Gita Nakarmi Mali and Scott Kopp

“The idea was we wanted to be a step above McDonalds,” said Jim Weiman, a co-founder and one of three partners of Stubbys. “We wanted to be fast food, but decent fast food, fast food you wouldn’t hesitate to eat. We wanted Stubbys to be a place people can go a few times a day. It didn’t have to be a big pilgrimage. You can come for a coffee in the morning, and later for dinner.”

In its 25 years, Stubbys’ menu has grown with the times, but by and large it hasn’t changed. The original idea was to create a go-to spot for French fries. “‘Stubbys is slang for French fries,” Weiman said. “A friend of mine has worked most of his adult life in Europe. I was talking to him when we were just getting going. We went with Steamship Stubbys, though the name was shortened before we even got going.”

“We wanted to be fast food, but decent fast food.”

– Jim Weiman

Stubbys has since evolved into much more than a casual fast food option for fries, providing breakfast, lunch and dinner, a variety of sandwiches, fried food and vegetarian options, as well as a full Jamaican menu at its Broad Street location. “In order to remain in business we had to swerve more than French fries,” Weiman said.

Stubbys has remained a fixture on Broad Street, forming the so-called Strip, along with Steamboat Pizza, Young’s Bicycle Shop and the Juice Bar. Three other shops on the Strip—Island Coffee, Walter’s Deli and Scooters—are also owned by the same group of Weiman, Scott Kopp and Gita Nakarmi Mali. Nakarmi’s son, Saugat Mali, now runs Stubbys’ Boston location in the Seaport. “What’s special about Stubbys is that on any given day, you’ll see such a mix of people,” Mali said. “Early morning you’ve got folks grabbing breakfast before work, midday is beachgoers and workers on break, and then at night, you’ve got families, friend groups or people grabbing something after going out. It’s a place that fits into

people’s everyday lives. We’ve even had customers who started coming as kids and now bring their own kids. That’s when you really feel the generational connection to the place.”

For Weiman—a former bartender at The Boarding House and The Muse—the special sauce for Stubbys has been the mantra of common fare cooked well. Just a simple burger, a fried chicken sandwich and French fries. Nothing crazy.

A few years into having the restaurant, a few of the cooks said they wanted to expand the menu to include some of the food they grew up eating in Jamaica—oxtail, jerk chicken. It’s been on the menu ever since. “It’s the real thing,” Weiman said. “It’s authentic and it’s good. That was something that we just stumbled on, and we just wanted to keep the idea the same that it was good food served cheaply.”

Twenty-five years in, Weiman said the restaurant has resonated with generations of Nantucketers. A new generation of employees has even stepped in, taking over for the old salts that clocked hour after hour at the frialator. It’s not surprising the restaurant has lived on, Weiman said.

“You get up each day and put your pants on and live your life and that’s just the way it goes. And then 25 years go by like that,” Weiman said. “I would be lying if I were saying we had this grand plan.”

Everyone we talk to moves away.

CALMING

DOWN

WRITTEN BY GRETA FEENEY PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHARITY GRACE MOFSEN

THE HAPPY PLACE WELLNESS SYMPOSIUM

I

f you’ve ever wondered why Americans currently have the lowest life expectancy among high-income, industrialized nations, the newly reimagined Happy Place Wellness Symposium might be able to shed some light. While the slower pace and connection to nature remain essential parts of the Nantucket lifestyle, the hustle and bustle of today’s lifestyle can make it hard to slow down. So we turn to yoga, both as a meditative practice and for the health benefits it provides. Sunrise beach meditations, yoga by the lighthouse, biking along quiet lanes and farm-to-table meals all contribute to a state of physiological calm and emotional regulation—where the body feels safe, the mind is clear and healing can begin. Wellness and positive psychology experts call this a “green zone”—a place that epitomizes the island’s distinctive atmosphere of holistic living.

It is Nantucket’s uniquely restorative spirit that Joann and Ted Burnham of Dharma Yoga Nantucket, along with author Holly Ruth Finigan, aim to celebrate this summer for a reimagined version of the Nantucket

Yoga Festival. After a five-year hiatus, the festival—now named the Happy Place Wellness Symposium—returns June 21-22 at the Dreamland with a renewed sense of purpose and an expanded mission—to serve as a call to action for those seeking vitality, connection and a more intentional life. Here, 30 miles out to sea, those in pursuit of a deeper kind of well-being can find the space to rewrite their personal narratives—and to live a more meaningful existence.

“Ted often says you are the author of your life,” says Joann Burnham. “We often forget that we get to write the script. The symposium is an opportunity to share tools and offer perspectives that may help people do just that.”

While its roots may lie in yoga, the wellness symposium now embraces nutrition, longevity science, therapeutic movement and meditation—underscoring that wellness isn’t just about looking and feeling good, but about being and doing good. The event’s producers have curated a global lineup—voices from medicine, movement, spirituality and storytelling—who will bring insight and depth to some of life’s most profound challenges.

Kim Wepler, Ted Burnham, Joann Burnham and Holly Ruth Finigan at the Dreamland, which will host the Happy Place Wellness Symposium.

True holistic fitness, for example, includes the impact our thoughts, words and actions have on ourselves and those around us. Thom Bond—founder and director of education at the New York Center for Nonviolent Communication, creator of the global Compassion Course and self-described “peace engineer”—has taught compassionate communication to people around the world. At the wellness symposium, he’ll guide attendees in understanding compassion as a practical, learnable skill— one that can radically transform our relationships, deepen our self-awareness and strengthen our communities. It’s the “connection and consciousness” layer of wellness and a timely reminder to take a breath and lead with empathy, especially while sitting in summer traffic.

Jodi Wellman, a positive psychologist and author You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets, suggests that reflecting on our mortality isn’t morbid—it’s motivational. To jolt

David McLain, a veteran National Geographic photographer has documented the lifestyles of the world’s longest-lived communities, known as the “blue zones.” His mission “to understand how the world’s oldest, healthiest people got that way” and then share that wisdom so “we may all live longer, healthier, happier lives” connects directly to the symposium’s themes of health, happiness and longevity. Showing how community, purpose and environment can foster well-being at any age, McLain invites us to apply those global lessons to our own blueprints for a happier, healthier life.

One of the wellness symposium’s central themes is the invitation to rethink how we engage with life’s most uncomfortable truths—especially around death and dying. In a post-COVID world, candid conversations about mortality might feel like a step backward. But what if they’re the key to moving forward?

argues, we must confront the end. Only by facing death head-on can we awaken to a deeper sense of purpose, urgency and joy.

What if we reimagined movement not as punishment or performance, but as nourishment— something essential to our well-being? That’s the shared philosophy behind two of the wellness symposium’s featured speakers, who bring radically refreshing perspectives to our increasingly sedentary lives.

Biomechanist Katy Bowman studies how the body moves and responds to physical forces, reframing movement as a form of daily nutrition vital not just for fitness but for cellular health. In her book Move Your DNA, she challenges us to move more and move differently, showing how even subtle motions—yes, even fidgeting—can feed the body. Her work invites us to reshape our environments to support more natural, varied movement throughout the day.

Ryan Hurst, fitness expert and co-founder of GMB

Visiting instructors and speakers include David McLain, Nicole Berry, Jodi Wellman, Ryan Hurst, Thom Bond, and Serena Poon.

Fitness, builds on this idea by transforming exercise into a practice of play. Instead of chasing reps or aesthetics, Hurst emphasizes the beauty and intention behind every movement. His approach fosters strength, ease and genuine joy—helping people feel more confident, capable and connected to their bodies. Together, these philosophies underscore a key message of the symposium: Wellness isn’t a grind—it’s a practice in presence, pleasure and daily renewal, and one that can add years to your life.

“The symposium is an opportunity to share tools and offer perspectives that may help people [be the author of their lives].”

– Joann Burnham

For Joann Burnham and

well-being of our beloved island.”

The symposium is as much a local labor of love as it is a global gathering of minds. Peter Palandjian, CEO of Intercontinental (Marine Home Center’s parent company), emphasized the importance of such initiatives: “We take seriously our responsibility as an employer and supplier to the Nantucket community. Supporting the Happy Place aligns with our values around mental and physical health.”

Late yoga instructor B.K.S. Iyengar imparted a lesson from yoga that hits the nail on the head: “Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.”

Finigan, the setting is just as important as the content. They pointed out that Nantucket has a unique vibration that has consistently inspired conscious living, the independent spirit and creative collaboration. Dreamland Executive Director Alicia Carney agrees: “This wellness symposium perfectly embodies our mission to build community year-round through shared experiences, while nurturing the physical and mental

Finigan, Wepler and Joann Burnham

A Safe Place invites you to our 2025 Summer SoireeBuilding Safer Tomorrows fundraiser and celebration.

A Safe Place is Nantucket’s domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy and counseling center providing 100% free and confidential services and programs for survivors.

We believe that individuals have the right to live their lives free from all forms of violence, harassment, exploitation, and bullying.

Prevention education is the heart of our mission.

Our youth prevention programs are developed using ageappropriate information and skill building.

We aim to help youth build and foster healthy personal relationships while encouraging them to become mature peer and community advocates for relationships based on equality, non-violence, and respect.

ISSUES PRESSING

BY BRUCE A. PERCELAY AND BRIAN BUSHARD IMAGES COURTESY OF BOB WOODWARD

A chat with investigative journalist Bob Woodward.

Bob Woodward was a 29-year-old reporter for The Washington Post when five men broke into the national Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. The burglary—perhaps the most famous in American history—not only led to the resignation of former President Richard Nixon in 1974; it also launched Woodward’s career as an investigative journalist.

Since his reporting with fellow journalist Carl Bernstein on Watergate, Woodward has gone on to write 23 books. He has interviewed every president since Nixon, and has won two Pulitzer Prizes. This June, he comes to the Nantucket Book Festival to discuss his latest book, War, on the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. N Magazine sat down with him for a conversation on his recent book, and the state of both journalism and democracy today.

Have you been to Nantucket before?

I was there in the early ’80s. I had a 45-foot sailboat named Timeless, and sailed it to Nantucket at least once and anchored there. It was a magnificent place. I sailed my sailboat around Nantucket, and in fact, for one sail, Katherine Graham, the owner and publisher of The Washington Post, was on the sailboat. We took her for a sail.

We are going through an incredibly tumultuous and divisive time as a country. Do you feel that what we are going through currently is just a moment in time, or do you feel that there has been a fundamental shift in the democratic system?

What’s striking from interviewing 11 presidents over 50 years is the concentration of power in the office. The president can exercise that power, and we see Trump doing all kinds of things no president has ever done before. Seizing on that power because he's president, and in the culture and in the media—his role is amplified to a degree that I can't even put a number on it.

INTERVIEW

Have we had another president that has had the same influence over his base as Donald Trump?

My big problem with Trump since 2020, when I did nine hours of interviews with him, is that he was warned that COVID is coming and is going to kill 650,000 people. He got that warning in January 2020 and he didn't tell the public. He didn’t step up to that responsibility at all. I would say that's a moral felony to not do that. That is the year he lost his reelection, and pollsters and other analysts have said it's because of what he said in those interviews. The interviews made it very clear that he was not looking out for the American people, even though when I asked him what is the job of the president, he said, ‘To protect the American people.’

Moving to Ukraine, in your book War, you say Vladimir Putin had a 50% chance of using tactical nuclear weapons. How real is the risk today of nuclear war in Ukraine?

It always exists, though I think it’s diminished. As I report in the book, Russia has felt Ukraine was really theirs. They believed that they had an existential bond with Ukraine, and so they felt they were going to get it. And of course, that’s Putin and that's Putin’s absolute obsession with Ukraine.

What was the Biden administration’s relationship with Moscow?

One of the discoveries in the book is that Biden had a realization from his experience in Congress about how we got into the Vietnam War, and that was because we sent American troops. That became the remedy. Biden was absolutely determined and

“Biden was absolutely determined ... not send U.S. troops to Ukraine, to keep us out of another potential Vietnam.”

– Bob Woodward

succeeded in this determination to not send U.S. troops to Ukraine, to keep us out of another potential Vietnam. For the United States and for the U.S. military, that was such an important decision, because now as the war still goes on, there are no U.S. troops involved in the combat.

Was the war in Ukraine ever close to becoming the next Vietnam?

That was always the threat and the worry and in the White House. It was John Finer, who was the Deputy National Security Advisor at the time, who concluded that this is what it must have been like during the Cuban Missile Crisis, that you’re in that moment where it can go to full war.

You have said the threat of nuclear war in Ukraine is the most serious nuclear threat that you have reported on. Is an end in sight?

It’s not guaranteed. I go back to the transcript of what President Obama had told me in 2010 about what he worried about the most. I asked, ‘What keeps you up at night? What are you worried about?’ Obama said: ‘A potential game changer would be a nuclear weapon blowing up a major American city. And so when I go down the list of things I have to worry about all the time, that is at the top, because that's one area where you can't afford any mistakes.’ He’s saying, very plainly, that this is his biggest worry, and they have to structure their discussions in their meetings and their strategy around making sure this never happens.

Later on, as I report in War, Putin was threatening to use a tactical nuclear weapon. The key with Putin and the

“The threat [of Putin using a tactical nuclear weapon] got down to a coin flip”

– Bob Woodward

Russian doctrine is they can use tactical nuclear weapons if they are facing a catastrophic battlefield loss. This is the question—and it came very close. There was a moment where they faced a potentially catastrophic battlefield loss, and they could have used a tactical nuclear weapon.

My reporting shows the extent to which Putin is isolated and is somebody who can't be counted on. The threat—as Jake Sullivan and John Finer in the Biden National Security Council say—got down to a coin flip of whether this might happen. As the intelligence agencies report, Putin is a danger and a threat. You can't tell what he’s going to do.

What were the differences between the Biden and Trump White House you found?

There is a period of Trump’s first presidency, and you see how people prevented him from taking steps that were perilous. People like Gary Cohen and Rob Porter saying they’re going to take [a proposed withdrawal from the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement] off his desk, because Trump has a short attention span and he won't remember—that he needs a trigger, something to remind him of this. The solution is hair-raising because something will click in his mind—‘Oh, get me that, and I’m going to sign it.’

A White House interview between Woodward and former President Barack Obama.

Woodward with former President George W. Bush.

You quote Trump saying real power is fear. What have you learned about him?

This is what the first book is called Fear. In an interview with Trump, I asked about power, and that's when Trump says, ‘Real power is—I don't like to use the term—but real power is fear.’ We see that exactly the way Trump operates to this day.

You also interviewed Trump in 1989 when he was 43 years old. What was your impression of Trump then? Did you ever think he would run for office?

It was always possible, and you saw in that interview in 1989—36 years ago—Trump’s mindset and one of his themes, which he lays out, which is, ‘Never fold, never give in.’ He was 43, a real estate developer in New York. There was no immediate sense that he would ever enter politics, at least by me. I think Carl [Bernstein] saw that possibility more vividly. Here you see Trump laying out some of his principles that he practices as a New York real estate developer, and then he gets into politics and is elected as president, becomes president, and you see those principles from 36 years earlier applied.

Your reporting along with Carl Bernstien during Watergate took down an American president. Fifty years later, do you think investigative reporting still holds that same power?

I think it’s always been important. It couldn’t be more important now, with Trump as president, better know what he’s up to? What are his goals? That question that pulses throughout—who is he? I’ve addressed that in my books and some of it is answered, but there is an incomplete report on Trump everywhere. I don't think anyone, including myself, has the full portrait. There are so many things to learn from investigative reporting, from standard daily and weekly reporting.

Thomas Jefferson spoke of the importance of a free press and how given the choice between a government without newspapers and newspapers without government, he would have chosen the latter. With journalism under attack, how big a threat is this to our democratic system.

Trump has attacked the news media somewhat effectively with fake news, and it's a standard denial mechanism that Nixon also practiced. It didn’t work for Nixon. We’re now at this central pivot point in history about where Trump is going, and what he’s going to do. It’s a future that I certainly can’t predict.

“Quite frankly, I try not to think about [my legacy].

– Bob Woodward

Speaking of the future, what is next for you?

As a journalist, you keep gathering information, talking to people, working on the next thing. I haven't committed to what the next project is.

It's been over 50 years since Watergate and Nixon's resignation. You've won two Pulitzer Prizes. How do you see your legacy?

The books and the work are there. I think the last thing somebody in journalism should think about is legacy. You do the work, it’s either accepted and supported and or not. Quite frankly, I try not to think about that.

Given your breadth of exposure to political leaders over time and your intimate understanding of our political system, are you optimistic, pessimistic, or undecided about America’s future?

I’m deeply troubled, because Trump and Elon Musk have assaulted the status quo, which is imperfect as it is. You can’t just go in and start arbitrarily slashing away, which is exactly what they’re doing. They are altering the fundamental makeup of the federal government. And some of it is going to be permanent. In five or 10 years, historians are going to be able to measure the impact of this. My assessment from doing all this work on this presidency is that it’s going to be profound, it’s going to be painful, and it will reverberate.

SCAN FOR MORE INFO

Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward in the 1970s.

THE AMERICAN

RETOLD REVOLUTION,

INTERVIEW BY BRIAN BUSHARD

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns comes to the Nantucket Film Festival to discuss his new series on the American Revolution.

Ken Burns has become synonymous with documentary filmmaking. Sinc first film, Brooklyn Bridge, in 1981, the director behind documentary series like The Civil War, Baseball, The National Parks the preeminent, reliable source in nonfiction storytelling, with distributed on PBS.

Burns comes to the island for the Nantucket Film Festival this June, where he will discuss his new documentary, The American Revolution debuting this November commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War and shedding new light on the well-known era in American history.

N Magazine sat down with Burns at the Old North Church in Boston for a conversation about the lesser-known stories of the Revolution, his filmmaking process and the parallels between the state of the nation then and today.

What brought you to Nantucket?

The first time I went to Nantucket, I was going on a vacation with my then-wifeto-be, who was already pregnant with our first daughter, for a belated wedding, and we spent a couple weeks on Nantucket. It was really idyllic. The next time I was there for the wedding of a very close friend of mine from my Hampshire College days. Since then it’s been periodically—to be with friends, to go with family. There definitely is a charm to Nantucket, and the food is some of the best I’ve ever had.

How did you come up with the idea for a documentary series on the American Revolution?

The ink was still drying on our film series on the history of the Vietnam War, and I said we’re doing the Revolution next. There was no sense of the 250th anniversary. As we were working on and got immersed in production, COVID came along, and all of a sudden, we’re opening up the editing room, going, “Wow, do you realize we’re going to get this done in time for the 250th anniversary of Lexington and Concord?”— which is when the Revolution started. That’s the name of our film: The American Revolution. It’s not “The Declaration of Independence” or “The Forming of the United States of America.”

I thought we’ll be out in the fall and that it’ll help us have a national conversation, so that when we finally get around to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we’ll have a much more informed and nuanced and complicated view of the Revolution.

Did your research put the Revolutionary War into a new perspective?

We tend to hold [the Revolutionary War] at arm’s length and protect it. It’s been encrusted with the barnacles of sentimentality. We accept the violence of the Civil War and all the 20th-century wars we were involved in, but we just want to protect the Revolutionary War. What we learned is that those great ideas are, in fact, even greater and more inspirational when you understand the context of this bloody civil war.

Our Civil War was a sectional war, North against South. But the American Revolution was a true civil war in which families, communities, neighborhoods, towns and states were divided. It’s brutal, and it’s fascinating knowing the human beings that emerged from it—not just the boldface names like the Washingtons, John Adams, Thomas Jeffersons and Thomas Paines—but folks that we’ve never heard of.

understand the complications of his life as a deeply flawed person who is rash at times. He runs out on the battlefield with foolish bravery and at times jeopardizes his own life, and therefore the entire cause.

At the Battle of Long Island, which is the biggest battle of the American Revolution, he suffers a devastating loss for the patriots. He makes a huge tactical blunder and doesn’t protect his left side, and the British come around and force the surrender of several generals. But at the same time, as you progress, you begin to realize that there is no way we have a country without him.

“[The Revolution] has been encrusted with the barnacles of sentimentality.”

– Ken Burns

Were there stories you uncovered that surprised you?

Of course, and it will do that for everyone else. When we make something superficial or we romanticize it, we basically enter into a binary, where there’s a good guy and a bad guy. Take somebody like George Washington. You

In our fifth episode, there is a German-language newspaper in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, that calls him our country’s father. It’s the sense that we don’t become a nation without George Washington. That’s exhilarating, too. There are no perfectly virtuous or perfectly villainous people. That’s the exciting part of telling a good story. What makes Shakespeare so great is that none of his characters are one-dimensional; they have undertow. They have a surface, but underneath the surface, there’s depth, and that’s what you want to try to achieve.

“The story we report back will be exhilarating.”

– Ken Burns

You have a star-studded cast in this series. How do you go about casting something like this?

The hundreds of voices we have are read by Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Kenneth Branagh, Damian Lewis, Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Paul Giamatti, Ethan Hawke and his daughter Maya Hawke, Liev Schreiber, Michael Keaton— I could go on and on.

There’s never been a Hollywood film that’s had this kind of cast. It’s probably unique in all of filmmaking, and we are so fortunate that those people were anxious to lend their talents, their voices, to bring the story alive in a way that complements the third-person narration. We spent nearly 10 years refining and learning and studying and reading and changing, and as we learn new facts and new data, it’s complemented by this chorus of firstperson voices.

Was there a more complicated relationship between patriots and loyalists in New England than we often hear about?

We’re calling balls and strikes in the story. We’re not interested in making simple, easy villains out of somebody and heroes out of anybody who fights for the patriot cause. What we’re trying to say is that to be a loyalist is to be essentially what we call a conservative today, someone who was very grateful for the prosperity that the British Empire and its system of government had. Up to that moment, the constitutional monarchy of Britain was considered

the best in the world, the most liberal, the most forward-thinking, and it extended rights to common people as well as to aristocrats and, of course, to the monarch. To be a loyalist is to say, “I don’t want that relationship to change. This is my home country, and these people are my parents, my relatives, my blood.”

That’s what makes the poignancy of what happened 250 years ago all the more meaningful is

that you have British soldiers killing British subjects who decided they’re not going to put up with it. There were times where the British generals could have wrapped up Washington’s army, and that would have been it. But they hold back, and in part, one thinks, it’s because they’re talking about their fellow citizens.

You’ve looked into the tensions that led up to the Revolutionary War. Do you see any parallels to today?

Of course. We know that human nature doesn’t change. The Bible says in the Old Testament that there’s nothing new under the sun. I’ve learned now from nearly 50 years of doing this that when you finish a project and lift your head up, it’s rhyming. As Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

It’s rhyming in the present in so many different ways. We’ve been divided for most of our history in many ways. And what is so extraordinary about the story of the United States of America is how all of these disparate elements have actually succeeded pretty well in maintaining the cohesion. And so I hope that in some way, this film could contribute to the idea that we could put the “us” back in the U.S.

You have said you will not make a more important film than this. Why?

First of all, it’s the subject matter, the origin story of the greatest country in the history of the world. This is the most consequential revolution, as we say in the first minutes of the film. I believe the most important event since the birth of Christ is the birth of the United States. It is born in violence, and it is born with lots of tensions and pushing and pulling.

It’s as magnificent and as inspirational a story as you could have in the midst of that violence and brutality, and that’s what we look for. This is a story firing on all cylinders that has so much meaning for Americans at any time that you consider the Revolution and our birth.

Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein, who worked on the documentary series with Burns.

“You have British soldiers killing British subjects who decided they’re not going to put up with it.”

– Ken Burns

Has AI changed the game with documentaries?

It hasn’t changed mine, and that’s the only one I care about. If they’re happening in other places, I’m incredibly concerned about that, because then you’ve acknowledged that your master is not the truth but something else, something expedient, whatever it might be. We just can’t do that. We want to get the facts right as they happen. This is a subject matter that has no photographs, that has no newsreels, and so we’ve had to take paintings, drawings, maps, documents, signatures and live cinematography of America.

I have an obligation to my audience, and I’m not sure that others who take the expedient route have actually done anything but erode an audience’s confidence in what it is. I have a reputation that I intend to protect completely and wholeheartedly and not take any shortcuts. I have in my editing room a small neon sign that says, “It’s complicated.”

What do you hope is the takeaway of this film?

We’re spending 10 years on it. We are shaping it into this complex narrative with lots of subsidiary stories and people that everybody knows but who are complicated by certain dynamics in their life, and we’re introducing you to even more people that you’ve never heard of who have as complex lives as anybody that we do know. We don’t have a prescription about how you should respond or what you should take away. Given the fact that we are coming up on the 250th anniversary of the United States, we’re thinking carefully and deeply about the meaning of our country, its intentions. Everybody before the formation of the United States was a subject. Afterwards, we have people who were citizens, and the responsibilities of that are so immense and so profound, and it is so inspirational and moving.

Amanda Charlton and Mary Seidel of the Nantucket Performing Art Center's artistic advisory board with board chair Chris Bierly.

A NEW ACT

WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD

TPHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

The Nantucket Performing Arts Center creates a new theater experience.

here’s a new show in town. The new owners of the former White Heron Theatre on North Water Street have not only purchased the property—they also come with a lofty new goal for the theater itself. The Nantucket Performing Arts Center, as it’s called, has reimagined the theater as not just a space for a single production company, but as a stage that can be used by other arts groups, nonprofits and education programs.

“The White Heron is a different nonprofit that will potentially live on somewhere else in the country,” said Chris Bierly, board president of the Nantucket Performing Arts Center. “But this is a completely different thing. I wouldn’t think of it as how we will maintain what was here before. The space was here before, but we’re a new nonprofit with our own mission and our own ambition, which is to provide a great performing arts center for the island.”

Bto other island arts groups to use its 150-seat stage. At the same time, rumors circulated that the White Heron Theatre—which for over a decade had hosted Broadway actors for professional, experimental and outside-the-box productions—would shut down. Bierly feared a housing developer would swoop in, and that the stage would be lost.

A former White Heron board member and a senior partner at Boston-based consulting firm Bain & Company, Bierly even pitched a purchase to several island nonprofits, but the $13 million asking price was unreasonable for them. Bierly then started reaching out to artists he knew, who reached out to other artists, to get the ball rolling on a performing arts center. Bierly’s group received donations from 51 donors for the performing arts center, collecting over $6 million. They closed on the property in April for $9.5 million.

“When I was on the board of the former theater organization, I thought this really ought to be a broader community asset,” Bierly said. “It was essentially an asset for one nonprofit theater group. It was open 50-60 days a year. I thought that was a wonderful thing, but it was not the full potential of what it could be. And so to preserve this and then turn it into something

“We’re saving something that was not necessarily going to remain a theater.”

– Chris Bierly

to its full potential—what it can be a performing arts center year-round— I think that’s a pretty unique opportunity.”

The North Water Street campus includes the 150-seat theater with balcony seating, plus a courtyard and a 1,315-square-foot residence for staff and visiting artists. But that residence is in need of a renovation, part of a

major fundraising effort led by the three-person board of Bierly and other former White Heron board members Bob Doran and James Malone.

“We’re saving something that was not necessarily going to remain a theater, and that was unlikely to remain a theater,” Bierly said. “It’s a beautiful theater on an island that has a 150-year tradition of theater and the performing arts going all the way back to New Yorkers coming here in the 1800s and doing stuff in the summer. This is the only dedicated-purpose-built performing arts space on the island. It has everything you need to do Broadway or the like here in Nantucket, and it was really at risk of going away.”

“The demand for art is here, the interest is here, the history and richness of the artists are here.”

– Chris Bierly

The property had been owned by Lynne and Roger Bolton since 2012, and was run by Lynne Bolton and coartistic director Michael Kopko. In 2016, the $7 million facility opened as the first purposebuilt venue on the island designed specifically for professional repertory theater. The theater hosted Tony Awardwinning directors and Broadway actors. When COVID-19 shut down the performing arts in 2020, the theater company created the White Heron Radio Theatre. It put on “The Ghost Light Series” and a radio drama of “A Nantucket Christmas Carol,” an island-themed adaptation of

the Dickens classic narrated by late Oscar, Tony and Emmy winner Christopher Plummer.

“What was certainly not here before and is 100% new is the idea that this space will get developed as a community center, a place that other arts organizations can share,” Bierly said. “That’s not that common in the arts world.”

While its full 2025 schedule has not been finalized, the group has agreed to host Nantucket Film Festival screenings this June, as well as comedian Kevin Flynn’s comedy education program Stand Up and Learn. It will also put on two shows this season: What the Constitution Means to Me and Theatre People

“I think Nantucket innately fosters and incubates art so beautifully, and has for a really long time,” said actress Mary Seidel, one of the members of the group’s artistic advisory board. “This is an intended space to do so, and we’re all very excited to open the doors, work together and create cool things.”

The new ownership group is still seeking donations to renovate the campus and hire an artistic director. In addition to improvements to the residence on the quarter-acre site, Bierly said the group’s goal is to lower the balcony seating and install new seats. Still, other aspects of the theater will remain.

“The demand for art is here, the interest is here, the history and the richness of the artists are here,” Bierly said. Now that their home is secure, the show must go on.

Gary

Bosworth Road

Nevers

Gary Winn, Broker & Morgan Winn, Sales Associate

AT 50 JAWS

WRITTEN BY JOHN STANTON

The Nantucket Film Festival dives into the making of the 1975 Benchley classic.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WENDY BENCHLEY, ROB BENCHLEY AND THE NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL

It is late one fine summer night, at the tail end of a beach party, when a young woman decides to go skinny-dipping. We see her in a wide shot, calling to a friend on the shore to join her in the ocean. The camera’s point of view changes. We can see her legs treading water, illuminated by the moonlight filtering down from the surface.

Then the music. If you have seen the movie Jaws, you can hear those two notes, an F and an F-sharp, even as you read this. The music looms in the darkness. It is the clicking of a roller coaster as it reaches the apex of the hill.

Then the terrible screams as the shark attacks and the woman is dragged furiously back and forth, struggling and calling for help until she is pulled under. It is almost a more frightening moment when the water becomes smooth and quiet again and we understand that the ocean does not care about us.

Jaws terrified audiences when it hit theaters 50 years ago. The reception from audiences is said to have surprised director Steven Spielberg, as it created a level of fear not seen or heard since Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds. To say that the struggles to get it made were worth it in the end is an understatement. It became a legitimate phenomenon.

Jaws rang up the highest opening box office numbers of all time, until two years later when it gave way to George Lucas’ Star Wars. It is also one of those rare movies that

have become part of the pop culture landscape. It is as relevant and entertaining today as it was in the summer of 1975.

The movie was based on a novel of the same name by Peter Benchley. He had grown up spending summers in Sconset, fishing with his brother and father, who chartered Gibby Nickerson and his boat until he eventually bought his own boat— called Nibble. “We’d go 30-milesplus off the south shore looking for swordfish,” Benchley’s brother Nat remembered. “We considered that we grew up on the ocean,

“[Peter] was sure it wouldn’t be a success because it was a novel about a fish, and who wants to read that?”

– Nat Benchley

even though we had to go back to the mainland when school opened again.”

Peter Benchley, who died in 2006, had worked at the Washington Post and Newsweek magazine, and he had written speeches for President Lyndon B. Johnson. They were a family of writers. His grandfather, Robert, was a humorist whose work appeared in The New Yorker magazine, and was a member of the legendary group of writers called the Algonquin Round Table. His father Nat wrote the novel The OffIslanders, which later became the film, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.

When Benchley was a boy, his father wanted to discourage him from being a writer, and one summer paid him what he was making as a landscaper’s assistant to just sit and write all day, thinking he would give in to boredom. Instead, he learned the discipline writing requires. The plan backfired. He had found his place. In 1972, he was introduced to Tom Congdon, an editor at the publishing house Doubleday and a longtime Nantucket summer resident. He told Congdon that he had two ideas for novels. The first was a modern-day pirate story; the second was a fish story about a shark that terrorizes a small beach community. Congdon gave him a $1,000 advance to begin work on the fish story.

“He felt this was his last dance, writing this novel, because he had decided not to go back to Newsweek,” Benchley’s wife, Wendy, said. The couple was living in Pennington, New Jersey. Peter wrote in an office he rented above the local furnace supply shop. The

day came when Congdon called looking for the four chapters he was owed. Benchley hurriedly sat down and cranked them out.

In his first approach, he played the story as a comedy. “The idea of a humorous man-eating shark was a perfect oxymoron,” Nat said.

Congdon rejected the idea. He suggested Benchley rewrite the first four chapters and play it straight. It was a simple story: a small beachside community on the cusp of tourist season when a rogue shark begins to kill swimmers. The book looked at how the town dealt with the shadow of losing summertime business. In the book, the shark was secondary to the workings of a small town.

to read that? But other people with more experience in books and movies knew better,” Nat said.

Hollywood producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown bought the rights to the book before it was even published, based on reading those four rewritten chapters.

“Peter’s agent told him Brown and Zanuck wanted to buy the movie rights. He said what do you mean? You can’t train a shark and you can’t make one that looks the same,” Nat said. “He was coming from a literary background and point of view. He had never seen a great white but had seen plenty of sharks. Still, the producers paid him a bunch of money for it so he took it.”

“The book was about the small town’s reaction,” Wendy Benchley said. “Peter and his parents knew the importance of the summer season on Nantucket, about a short time frame to make money if you were going to survive the winter.”

Peter Benchley did not know what to expect while writing those first four chapters.

“It was his first novel, and he was sure it wouldn’t be a success because it was a novel about a fish and who wants

Zanuck and Brown talked to several directors and finally took a bet on a 27-year-old director named Spielberg, who had only a single film to his name. Spielberg brought in a friend and screenwriter named Carl Gottlieb to help rewrite the script.

Both of the writers also act in the film, Benchley in a cameo playing a television reporter doing a report about the shark and Gottlieb playing the part of the local newspaper

Courtesy of the Nantucket Film Festival.

“Peter was horrified that many people took the book and the movie as a license to kill sharks.”

– Wendy Benchley

editor. In the long run, it gave Spielberg what most directors do not have—the right of final cut, which means the director gets to decide on the final version of his films.

Jaws, 50 Years Later

The new Jaws@50 documentary explores the trials of getting the film made and the reaction to its success, through the memories and personal footage of Spielberg. It also features directors like Lucas talking about how Jaws influenced the movie-making business. “The success of Jaws gave him creative license and control to manage his stories,” said Justin Falvey, president of Spielberg’s company Amblin Entertainment and executive producer of the documentary. Amblin partnered with National Geographic on the film. Jaws@50 will have its world premiere on June 20 on Martha’s Vineyard, where much of the film was shot, and will then come to Nantucket as part of the Nantucket Film Festival. The festival will screen both the documentary and the original film.

Other documentary films have explored the drinking and the sniping between two of its main actors—Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss—how the most famous line, “We’re going to need a bigger boat,” was an ad lib, and a

list of anecdotes that seemingly know no end. Ian Shaw, the son of Robert Shaw, who plays the local fisherman and shark hunter Quint, even wrote a play called The Shark Is Broken, in which he plays his late father.

“I think it’s really the perspective of 50 years that makes this film really special,” said Laurent Bouzereau, who directed Jaws@50. “To me, that’s Steven opening up his heart, his archive, that makes the film unique. Yes, we’ve heard the stories, but this is a very unique perspective.”

Falvey agreed. He said Jaws@50 explores the making of Jaws at a level that goes well beyond fanboy obsessions thanks to Spielberg’s memories and personal archive. “He was a 27-year-old talent, but a vulnerable filmmaker,” Falvey said. “This is a pretty inspiring story about perseverance in what was a difficult time for him.”

One of the things that Spielberg brought to the movie was his decision to use local folks on Martha’s Vineyard in the film. The most memorable example is Mrs. Kintner, the mother of a boy who is killed by the shark. In her big scene, she confronts Police Chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider) and slaps him in the face. Kintner was played by Lee Fierro, who co-founded the Island Theatre Workshop. She died in 2020, at 91 years old, of COVID.

Peter and Wendy Benchley. Courtesy of Wendy Benchley.

Peter Benchley in Nantucket Harbor, aboard James J. Storrow’s sloop "Sankaty," in 1960. Courtesy of Rob Benchley

SJpielberg, I think, did a magnificent job with all the local people from Martha’s Vineyard in the film,” said Wendy Benchley. “It gives the film a real feel of a close-knit community. I think there were only six or seven professional actors.”

Jaws showed Spielberg’s ability to bring humanity to a thriller.

The characters share some version of a journey home. It would be something he would return to in his films for the next decade. After they defeat the shark, our two remaining heroes are paddling into shore on a part of the wrecked boat, named Orca. “I always hated the water before,” said Brody. “I can’t imagine why.” It is a very Spiebergian ending.

The shark, of course, is the villain in Jaws. It must be that way. This is a simple, very well-made film, and needs an obvious villain and some heroes. Part of the reaction to the film was an uptick in shark tournaments. Both Benchley and Spielberg later said they regretted the popular notion of sharks as villains.

“[Peter] said many times that he would never write Jaws again the same way.”

– Wendy Benchley

“Peter was horrified that many people took the book and the movie as a license

to kill sharks,” Wendy said. “He said many times that he would never write Jaws again the same way.” The couple responded to the fallout from the film by getting involved in ocean conservation. Peter wrote articles about sharks, and the two of them went on cage dives off Australia to see great white sharks.

Wendy is still very much involved in ocean conservation. She is an advisory trustee of the Environmental Defense Fund and on the board of WildAid. She calls the increase in both seals and sharks off Great Point a success story.

“Seals were protected 30 years ago, and it has taken that long for them to get their population back up to strength. And seals are sharks’ favorite food,” she said. “You would not go to the Serengeti and walk around in a bikini and sun tan lotion, because that is where lions live. It is the lions’ Serengeti, and we respect that. I think we should see sharks and the ocean in the same way.”

Peter and Wendy Benchley in a shark tank. Courtesy of Wendy Benchley

The memory of the movie is still seared into the brains of those who first saw it, which is why for them beachgoing may never be the same.

Sounds Sea of the

WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD

Whale Jam brings its concert series to Nantucket.

efore Hayden Arnot was known as the Nantucket Crisps guy, he had a steady job booking music for the Nantucket Dreamland. The first show he ever booked was Jonathan Russell of The Head and the Heart. The summer he launched his potato chip company in 2022, he brought Vermont folk singer Noah Kahan to the Dreamland, where he played his song “Stick Season” to a live audience for the very first time.

That same year, Arnot also brought Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young singer Graham Nash, “American Pie” singer Don McLean and reggae legend Stephen Marley to Nantucket. As the chip business grew, so did his music booking. In 2023, Arnot launched Whale Aid, later naming it Whale Jam—a benefit concert that combined his passion for music with his lifelong goal of creating a charity show for a cause he believes in: the protection of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale. The chips gave him an opportunity to put it all together. “The chips are the vehicle for these passions,” Arnot said. “I love Nantucket, and I found the chip is the best vehicle because it’s accessible, everyone loves them, and it’s the best vehicle for flavor. On Nantucket, there are so many amazing flavors and ideas and things you can work off of.”

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

In Whale Jam’s first year, 700 people attended the benefit show in Boston. This year, Arnot is expecting 5,000 people at the MGM Music Hall on June 3. “I would love for this to eventually be at the Xfinity Center as a big, 12,000-person concert,” he said. At the same time, Arnot is organizing a Whale Jam Summer Series on Nantucket, with nearly a dozen concerts at Cisco Brewers. Proceeds from the shows go to Whale and Dolphin Conservation USA, an ecological organization out of Plymouth, Massachusetts, that works to reduce ship strikes and entanglements that contribute to the right whale’s declining population. There are about 370 North Atlantic right whales remaining, according

sending the message out there to their customers.”

While Arnot’s ambition is to evolve Whale Jam into a full-on festival-sized outdoor concert series like the kind he grew up with, the Cisco shows are just as special—and in some ways more so. “From these

happening behind the scenes.”

This year’s concert in Boston features bands like O.A.R. On Nantucket, they include Phantom Planet, Stephen Marley, Futurebirds, Smallpools and Flipturn.

“When you’re in a small environment in an intimate setting,

to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“This is what drives us. We as humans need these whales in order to have a healthy ocean,” said Melissa Walsh-Walker, the deputy director, North America of Whale and Dolphin Conservation USA. “Nantucket Crisps walks the walk and talks the talk and is all about helping the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, by

shows I put together, you see on the next year’s concert summer fliers that O.A.R. is booking Ripe to open for them—

“The chip is the best vehicle because it’s accessible, everyone loves them, and it’s the best vehicle for flavor.”

– Hayden Arnot

I introduced Ripe to O.A.R.,” Arnot said. “They played Whale Jam together. It’s cool to see the networking

you know everyone wants to be there. That’s the best musical testing ground,” said O.A.R. frontman Marc

Roberge. “The best place to perform is a small space.”

Arnot’s passion for music can be traced back to a benefit concert he attended when he was 15 years old. The artist was Chadwick Stokes, the lead singer of Boston-based jam bands Dispatch and State Radio. The charity was called Calling All Crows, an initiative Stokes started to empower women in Sudan that now conducts campaigns on a range of issues impacting women and girls.

“When this is all said and done, I want to look back and see that the journey was amazing.”

– Hayden Arnot

Arnot went to the show loving the artist but not knowing anything about the cause. The music was the reason he went. But he left feeling inspired and wanting to help the organization. Three weeks later, he organized his own fundraiser for Calling All Crows.

“That’s the exact example—I love my favorite artist, I went to do something because he stood behind it, and then walked out empowered and raised money for that nonprofit,” Arnot said. “I would have never known about it unless I went.”

Fast-forward to February 2023 when Arnot held a meeting with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation. “I pitched them this wacky idea of booking music, supporting the whales and throwing a benefit concert,” he said. “You listen to the music and feel empowered and inspired, and you walk out feeling passionate. These are musicians people look up to, and if they get behind something, then people can get behind that too.”

While it might seem that potato chips and a benefit concert for the North Atlantic right whale are an odd combination, Arnot does not see it that way. The projects work hand in hand, he said. They both allow him to be creative and grow a passion.

Arnot opened the Nantucket Crisps store on

Easy Street in May. He is introducing new, wacky flavors, Polpis Pickle being one of them. Whales Tail Beer Cheese is another, a collaboration with Cisco Brewers.

His chips have even made it to mainland grocery chains like Roche Bros., Stop & Shop, Market Basket and Star Market. He sees the company not so much as selling chips—which it is—but of selling an idea of Nantucket.

“When this is all said and done, I want to look back and see that the journey was amazing, that we created something that people love, we created experiences and it was special,” Arnot said. “That’s why we have this store, that’s why we do Whale Jam, that’s why we do these wacky things—it’s about creating a story that people will talk about later and have fond memories of.”

susan@maurypeople.com | c 508.560.0671 @susanchambersnantucket www.susanchambersnantucket.com 37 Main Street | Nantucket MA 02554

Sam Lavallee (née Nipatnantaporn) Nantucket Scholar Recipient

2013

I am grateful to have been a Nantucket Scholar, which enabled me to pursue my bachelor’s degree in marketing at Emerson College while simultaneously beginning my 8-year career with the Boston Red Sox. Since then, I have sought new endeavors and passions, including earning an MBA from Hult International Business School and owning West Creek Mercantile, a gift shop that donates a portion of its profits to communities in need. In addition to managing West Creek Mercantile, I am currently working as a marketing manager for Sports Reference, a sports data company dedicated to promoting parity and democratizing data across both men’s and women’s sports.

41 Nantucket Scholars since 2006

67 Professional Scholarship recipients since 2018

65 institutions of higher education attended Grants to 97 Island organizations

892 grant requests – 777 grants funded

Largest grant of $1M

Through the generous support of the members of the Nantucket Golf Club and their guests, the Nantucket Golf Club Foundation has raised over $50 million in the last 23 years for the benefit of Nantucket youth.

MUSIC MAN

WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Conductor Francisco Noya leads the Boston Civic Symphony on Nantucket this summer.

Francisco Noya comes from a family of athletes, not musicians. His father played professional soccer in Venezuela. But music has always surrounded him. Noya started taking piano lessons when he was six. But it was not seen as a career. Noya chose engineering over music, studying electrical engineering as an undergraduate in Valencia.

At some point during college, Noya felt an urge to pick up a second instrument and started taking cello lessons. In those days, he would travel back and forth from engineering classes to those lessons, practicing for hours on end.

“I needed to make a decision,” said Noya, who will conduct the Boston Civic Symphony at Nantucket High School this June. “Do I continue with engineering or do I pursue music? Not only do I have no regrets, I would do it again. I don’t recall agonizing too much about it; I just remember having to decide. When you’re in your late teens and early 20s, any decision you make can be traced back. You’re young. You don’t know what you’re doing.

You have no fear.”

Music turned out to be a fortuitous choice. At the same time in Venezuela, a movement had begun to start a national youth orchestra program called El Sistema. Noya joined one of the Sistema’s orchestras in Valencia, playing cello. When the group’s conductor needed to leave, the then 20-year-old Noya was appointed conductor. At his first rehearsal, the orchestra had 14 members. By the time Noya left the orchestra three years later, there were 90 members.

“There was an explosion,” he said.

“I was a conductor for several years, but I decided I didn’t really know what I was doing and I would need to go learn it because I really liked it and seemed to have a facility for it,” Noya said. So he applied to Boston University, where he ended up completing an undergraduate degree in compositions, with a scholarship from the government of Venezuela. Noya returned several years after his graduation for a master’s in conducting, and soon began orchestra hopping.

Francisco Noya conducting the Boston Civic Symphony. Image Courtesy of Adam Noya.

His first big gig came in Albany, New York. He conducted the Empire State Youth Orchestra, known as one of the best youth orchestras in the country. “We did all kinds of big repertoires—European tours, concerts at Carnegie Hall. It was fun,” he said.

of Nantucket Public Schools

Superintendent Beth Hallett— conducts the Boston Civic Symphony on stage at Nantucket High School this month, Noya will not only have the 45-50 symphony

been planning for years. The youth orchestra, an after-school program now in its second year, is something the Music Center has been wanting to establish for several decades.

“The orchestra members love [performing with kids] because they remember what it was like...”

His resume runs the gamut: the Rhode Island has made international appearances with orchestras in Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Italy, Peru, Russia, Spain and the Czech Republic. He is also a member of the conducting faculty at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

“We really wanted to do something with the kids, and the kids were first,” said Tony Wagner, the Music Center’s executive director. “There was a conversation we had

the end of the performance, sitting side by side with the professionals.

When Noya—the husband

“The orchestra members love doing that because they remember what it was like in the beginning,” he said. The opportunity is something the Nantucket Community Music Center, which organizes the youth orchestra, has

education program, and it worked.”

He describes his approach to conducting as an interpretation. On the one hand, he considers himself respectful and faithful to the wishes of the composer whose work he’s playing. On the other hand, he said it’s not possible to play a piece of music if you don’t have a part of

Noya performs with the Boston Civic Symphony on Nantucket

yourself in it. “That’s how human beings are,” he said. “So in that sense, it’s an interpretation, but it’s informed by my understanding of the score and the composer and the style of music at the time the composer was writing”

Looking back on his career, Noya reflected on what has changed since the day he started conducting. “I think I have changed, I like to think,” he said. “I think the industry has changed tremendously. When I began conducting in the late ’70s, there were still record labels, and LPs and CDs were still far in the horizon. Now we have streaming, which gives you unlimited access to music. In the beginning, if you wanted to listen to a recording of something, you had to go buy it. Most things were not available. It was much more difficult to do a search. Now we have a much wider variety in our repertoire.

– Tony Wagner

Musicians are also getting better and better. The caliber of play is getting so high.”

The Boston Civic Symphony plays a free concert at the Nantucket High School Mary P. Walker Auditorium on June 22 as part of the Nantucket Community Music Center’s 50th anniversary. nantucketmusic.org. “The first thing is to inspire the kids.”

One summer resident’s clutches are a work of art.

welve years ago, one of Erin Saluti’s accessories began turning heads. She was often seen sporting a curved wooden clutch that her husband made for her as a birthday gift based on a sketch she gave him. “I carried that thing all over the world, and wherever I went, someone asked about it,” said Saluti, a Nantucket summer resident. “They were shocked when I said that [we] had made it.”

Erin had sketched the design for the handbag and showed it to her husband, Joe Saluti, a partner at hedge fund Highline Capital Management who dabbled in woodworking in his spare time. He carved pieces of walnut on a curve with a computeroperated machine to bring Erin’s idea to life. He attached brass cabinet hardware to serve as the bag’s hinges.

WRITTEN BY MADELINE BILIS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe’s woodworking hobby kicked into high gear. He moved his CNC machine to their family’s garage in Westchester, New York, raising the ceiling so it would fit. Erin gave designing another bag a whirl, and then another one. “We were stuck at home and I just kind of kept going,” she said. This marked the beginning of what’s now known as Eittem (pronounced item), Saluti’s luxe collection of sculptural wooden handbags.

In those early days, Erin, who studied contemporary art and design at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and interior design at London Design School, designed and prototyped all of the bags at home with Joe, and increased production once pandemic-related supply chain issues subsided. In the spring of 2024, they moved the business to a studio in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, perfecting the process of creating Eittem’s three hallmark designs.

Erin Saluti with three models of Eittem handbags: Owl, Moon and Bird.

“They’re really a hybrid of art and a fashion accessory.”

– Erin Saluti

FORMS INSPIRED BY NATURE

Bags like Eittem—which start at $5,800 and go up to $7,800—may be more than just a place to hold your belongings, but may also be an investment and a future collectable. Birkin bags, for example, often start above $30,000, while Nantucket Lightship Baskets can be just as valuable.

Eittem’s signature forms, named Owl, Moon and Bird, recall themes from natural environments. “One of my favorite places on Nantucket is Tupancy Links,” Erin said. “Doing those hikes and looking at all the flowers, birds, deer and turtles—there and in our yard—those are the things that really inspire me.”

To settle on each design, Saluti considered shapes that meant something to her. She loves owls, particularly snowy owls on Nantucket, and other organic forms that could translate into minimal, three-dimensional objects. “[The designs] resonate with people in many different ways,” Saluti said. “But they’re shapes that I happen to like personally; that’s where it starts from.”

Each of the bags is available in a classic wood grain finish, plus two of their own colorways. The Owl comes in black and plum, the Bird in lilac and berry, and the Moon in pale blue and pearl. These colorful finishes are applied much like the top coat to an electric guitar or a new car. Finishing them requires a 20-step process that involves sanding, hand-painting and buffing. Then, a craftsperson applies a unique protective coating that cures in a custom-built ultraviolet light chamber.

SCAN HERE FOR MORE INFO

SOURCING MATERIALS

From the start, Saluti was set on crafting bags from walnut. “I just love the grain, the richness and the character of it,” she said.

Eittem receives its walnut from urban salvage—in other words, reclaimed wood from trees that have fallen or were cut down in places like city parks. The leather lining on the inside, meanwhile, is sourced from a company in Germany called Weinheimer Leder, one of the major suppliers to Hermès. And the hinges have come a long way from Home Depot’s offerings. Now, they’re made of stainless steel.

“Most handbags, even the most expensive ones, just use brass, which is inexpensive and not very strong,” Saluti explained. “I wanted to try making our hardware out of stainless steel, which is super strong and can be polished beautifully to this gorgeous shine. It really looks like jewelry.”

“They’re really a hybrid of art and a fashion accessory,” Saluti said.

Flouting traditional luxury purse designs, there’s no exterior logo on any of the bags—only a small

embossed “Eittem” on the inside of the clasp. “We really want the shapes themselves to become the indicator of the brand and, over time, what people will recognize,” she said.

THE MAKING OF AN EITTEM CLUTCH

Each clutch takes at least two weeks to craft from start to finish. A series of artists and technicians work on each bag, and roughly four to five bags are in the production process at once. “Similar to Nantucket lightship baskets, they take a lot of time to make each of them,” Saluti said.

A bag begins with a hand sketch, which is converted into a computer-assisted design, or CAD, drawing. Next, salvaged walnut is carved with the CNC machine according to the CAD drawing. The wooden shells are then hand-sanded and rested on a shelf for several days, allowing the wood to expand and contract before assembly. From there, it receives a finish, either natural wood grain or a paint color, such as lilac or black, depending on the bag’s shape.

At the same time, the leather interior is uniquely wet-molded and dried in the kind of incubator that’s typically used to grow bacteria, rather than being sewn into the bag. “No bacteria is involved in our process,” Saluti noted. “We adopted it from the medical industry as the temperature can be finely adjusted.”

“They’re shapes that I happen to like personally. That’s where it starts from.”

– Erin Saluti

In fact, a variety of the machines and tools in Eittem’s Chelsea workshop are repurposed from other fields. An optical comparator from a machine shop helps fine-tune a bag’s clasps, while dental tools and jeweler’s instruments bring the stainless steel portions—17 pieces per bag—to a mirror finish. From there, each clutch undergoes assembly and, finally, a personal inspection from Saluti.

Due to the small size of Eittem’s production facility and team, they’ve only produced about 40 of each of the three hallmark shapes in total.

Saluti estimates the company will make roughly 200 bags in all of 2025. That’s because she endeavors to work similarly to an art model: Each bag is numbered, much like a work of art, and a card of authenticity signed by the people who handmade the bags is tucked inside the product.

As for future clutches? Three additional shapes have been prototyped, while two more are in sketch form, Saluti said. The plan is to release one new shape per year. While those designs are under wraps for now, Saluti hinted at a local source of inspiration for a bag she might create one day: “I would love to do something that ties in a lightship basket element.”

A Thriving Nantucket Begins with Us.

Celebrating 20 years of partnering with community leaders to address our Island’s most critical needs.

Our e orts help provide a ordable access to childcare, after-school programs, behavioral and physical health services, safe shelters and food for those in need, and transportation for our seniors.

Through generous donations, CFN works with 160+ local organizations by providing critical grants. With your support we can do more.

From left: Deb DuBois, The Warming Place; Rachel Mandle, Sherburne Commons; Jamie Foster, Nantucket Boys & Girls Club; Sunny Daily, CFN; Jennifer Frazee, A Safe Place.

Photographer: Kit Noble

INSIDE BASEBALL

WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD

PHOTOGRAPHY

BY

BEOWULF SHEEHAN

Christian Sheppard on his new book, TheAncientWisdom of Baseball

It was another let-down season for the Chicago Cubs when Christian Sheppard’s daughter was born. It was the late ’90s. Sheppard found himself watching the lastplace team in the National League Central from the hospital maternity ward, whispering the play-by-play to his newborn daughter as his wife rested.

Around that time, another voice caught his attention. A fellow graduate student at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School asked him how he would raise his daughter. It was a question not just about religion, but a philosophical inquiry about the very ideals he would impart on his daughter. Without hesitation, Sheppard quipped, “I’m going to raise her a Cubs fan.”

In the two-decades since his daughter’s birth, Sheppard—

who was raised Catholic and as a Red Sox fan—has asked that question over and over again. Somewhere along the way, he realized baseball, by its very nature, carries a sort of philosophical wisdom similar to religion and mythology. Its stories of legends are not unlike the heroes of Greek mythology. Wrigley Field is Sheppard’s church. His seat is his pew.

“What would it mean to ask of baseball the questions we usually put to philosophy, and the questions that we usually put to religion, which is basically to say, what is this world I find myself in, and how should I live there?” said Sheppard, who recently released his first book, The Ancient Wisdom of Baseball. Sheppard, a professor of liberal arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago will discuss that book at the Nantucket Book Festival this June.

It was not completely coincidental that Sheppard happened upon the Homeric epics. Sheppard holds a Ph.D in religion and literature from The University of Chicago. He has written about art, food, culture and sports for The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune, and for 10 years, he taught The Odyssey at The

Sox six years later, Sheppard called it an “unforgivable sin” to a teenage Red Sox fan like himself.

“The formulation I came up with in the book is that every baseball game is the ritual reenactment of this essential myth,” Sheppard said. The game proceeds slower than other professional sports, allowing

University of Chicago.

The heroes in the Homeric epics embody virtues of courage and bravery. Their successes were triumphant. Their failures were tragic. That’s not dissimilar from Sheppard’s childhood hero, Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk. When Fisk’s home run in Game Six of the 1975 World Series struck the left field foul pole at Fenway Park—an iconic image for Sox fans despite the World Series loss— Sheppard remembers cheering for Fisk, as the catcher waved his arms in hopes his bending fly ball would stay fair. When Fisk was traded to the Chicago White

There's an interesting relationship between location, history and family that plays out over years of watching baseball, Sheppard said. There’s even a term for it: psychogeography. It’s the idea that because places like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are still around, spectators can associate those ballparks with pivotal moments in baseball, even associating those events with older generations that witnessed them.

“So when you go to Wrigley, you can recall that that's where Babe Ruth called his shot,” Sheppard said. “When we see a home run at Fenway, we think that's where Big Papi in the clutch helps break the curse [in 2004]. Baseball has this resonance that goes over the generations that relates individuals to America, in some ways at its happiest.”

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, in New England if not elsewhere, that the Yankees suck.”

– Christian Sheppard

for conversation. When you go to Fenway, you’re at the same field where Babe Ruth once pitched and where Ted Williams hit the longest home run in the park’s 110-plus year history.

A formative memory for Sheppard was when his grandfather told him he saw Babe Ruth play at Fenway Park. As a child, Sheppard remembers seeing Carl Yastrzemski’s 3,000th hit from his seat at Fenway in 1979. He was also there for a Rico Petrocelli home run that went up into the lights—a heroic act for a kid at the ballpark, and the kind of stuff out of Robert Redford’s The Natural

That resonance extends to younger generations, as well. Looking back at his life as a Red Sox and Cubs fan—and as a father—Sheppard said watching baseball has become a richer experience. “When you share baseball with your own kids, it's like you get the joy of seeing them see a home run for the first time,” he said. “There’s a way in which having a family, having someone to share it with, amplifies it for yourself in ways that you couldn't imagine.”

Into the FREY

INTERVIEW BY BRIAN BUSHARD IMAGES COURTESY OF PIERRE FREY

A chat with French textile designer Patrick Frey.

Patrick Frey, one of the most renowned textile designers in the world, is known to push the envelope. The so-called patriarch of wallpaper and textile giant Pierre Frey, he said he doesn’t follow trends. He anticipates them, often at a risk. He follows his instincts and branches out in a design world where being complacent is often considered safe.

Frey will visit Nantucket this July for the Nantucket Historical Association’s annual event, Nantucket by Design, where he will participate in a luncheon on the “transportive power of textiles.” N Magazine caught up with him for a conversation on his approach to design, his career in textiles and his upcoming talk on Nantucket.

At any point in your career, were you able to break off from more traditional design?

We are very eclectic and I love to do both traditional and contemporary designs. I love to look backward and forward. In fact, to look forward you have to look backward.

On the other hand, how do you stay true to tradition when designing in the modern world?

The idea for tradition is not to copy the past, or to do what has already been done. It’s to keep a certain influence and inspiration from the past and update it for today. Often it’s

a simplification. If it was woven as a silk damask, perhaps we would reinterpret it as a print. If the motif was small, perhaps we would make it big. We play with a design to keep the beauty of the design but give it a different dimension that’s new. We have a Scandinavian collection, really a mix of the past and future. Use classic culture, it is very modern. To implement, when we work on the past I always try to implement the past while modernizing.

Patrick Frey’s studio in Paris

Frey's textiles at his Paris studio.

Tell us about the revitalization project you undertook in 2017 on Villers-Cotterets.

To this point we were primarily producing fabrics and wallpapers and I was always frustrated because they were never on my own furniture. Now we have the ability to create our own furniture, and now the creation is complete. It was a kind of global concept. That’s why for years I was looking to add to our collection a furniture manufacturer.

How do you find pieces to add to your collection?

Creation is never finished. A new one replaces an old one. As long as we are creative, the story goes on and on. Our collections have themes or inspirations and we channel that essence with our choices for what to add. We are passionate

What

design elements do you consider when working with a coastal space?

When you are in a coastal area, you reference the water, the sun, bathing suits, swimming pools and the outdoors, so it has to be practical. The spirit is chic but simple, not too fancy. Often it is a question of fibers and colors, even more than design. Typically when you are in a coastal home you are on vacation, or you’re there to relax. It is the same in coastal towns all over the world.

As it relates to textiles, how can pieces from the past be reimagined in modern spaces?

We are not decorators, we are creating fabric and wallpapers. We leave it to designers to decide how they want to use it. I never do a design specifically for a use. Like with dining, is a wine good for fish or meat? The one to decide is the chef. The wine maker makes the wine and the chef decides on the pairing.

What new trends in design most excite you?

Rather than follow trends, I aim to anticipate what is coming. Our collections all have a common theme, and if you asked me why it was chosen I would have difficulty explaining it. It’s a certain flair, something in the air, that I follow. Creativity is always a risk. We take risks all the time. You can be right or you can be wrong. For me, I follow my instincts.

Have you ever been to Nantucket?

I was on Nantucket for two weeks with my wife and our five kids. We rented the most charming house. The kids were quite young, and they loved it. I always intended to come back but the world is big and there are so many places to explore, especially in the U.S., where we have visited many different places but unfortunately it has taken me this long to get back to Nantucket.

Patrick Frey said designing in coastal areas means a simple, chic spirit, nothing too fancy.

Shoot for the STARS

WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Nantucket S.T.A.R. is raising funds for an accessible van for its children’s programming.

The first time Audrey Sterk brought her son to a program with Nantucket S.T.A.R., she was caught off guard by the fact that she could drop him off without having to stay to supervise him. Sterk’s son, who has special needs, had until that point been surrounded by parents, teachers or caregivers for any event, whether it was a social gathering, a birthday party or just a typical day.

“As a parent, the first time we showed up to a program and they said, ‘OK, we’ll see you later,’ I said, ‘Wait a minute.’ This was the first time we could go away and say, ‘OK, we’ll see you guys later,’” said Sterk, the board director of Nantucket S.T.A.R. “We came back and asked how it went and they said, ‘Great.’ That’s the response every time because these amazing humans can handle all of the spectrum of support. They’ve got it.”

Left: Audrey Sterk and Lauren Soverino of Nantucket S.T.A.R.

Nantucket S.T.A.R. (Sports and Therapeutic Accessible Recreation) began in 2003 when islanders Renee Gamberoni and Max Goode realized there was a hole in children’s programming on the island for students with special needs. Over the past 22 years, the organization has brought in hundreds of children with learning and physical disabilities for accessible recreational activities. It currently has over 100 active participants, including peers and siblings.

“When S.T.A.R. began, there were probably four active participants,” Board President Lauren Soverino said. “Compare that to the rate of identified needs in the public school; the population has exponentially grown on the island. Nantucket is a very welcoming community, and people know they can receive great support here through the school system and outside of it.”

The organization’s programs run the gamut from tennis, swimming and kayaking to sensory arts, ice skating, cooking classes and CrossFit. On a Friday afternoon this spring, a group of children, peers and adults met at the University of Massachusetts Boston Field Station in Polpis for an adventure pod scavenger hunt. It was a simple walk through the woods, where participants could learn about the ecology around them and at the same time engage in a meaningful way with other children and adults in a welcoming environment.

Outside of school, there aren’t many opportunities for S.T.A.R.’s participants to access a program either without parental support or some sort of additional caregiver, Soverino said. Before COVID-19, the organization also had a summer camp. “Every kid deserves the opportunity to say they went to summer camp,” Soverino said.

“For a parent with a kid with neurodiversity, every opportunity is a learning opportunity.”

– Audrey Sterk

“We really try to offer a breadth across different age groups and developmental abilities,” Soverino said. “Our staff is highly specialized. We have a therapeutic piece to it, and we have never turned a participant away because of ability, confidence, behavior or skill level.”

It was during that time the organization’s board realized it would need some way to transport kids to and from the camp. The organization had borrowed a van from the Boys & Girls Club, but it wasn’t a long-term solution. That’s when an idea was formed. Having some sort of transportation would not only go a long way toward S.T.A.R.’s year-round programming; it would also provide an opportunity to pick kids up at their houses and let them ease into a program.

“Not only is it fun to go to a program together, but it also opens up a level of accessibility for our participants, where anybody with a physical need can access a level of transportation,” Soverino said.

On June 28, Nantucket S.T.A.R.—a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization—is holding a fundraiser

at the Great Harbor Yacht Club to raise money for an accessible van. Its goal is $200,000, including the purchase and upkeep. The van would serve the organization’s programming throughout the year—as well as provide another learning opportunity for participants, Sterk said. The kids would be able to learn how to greet a driver, how to behave on board and how to buckle themselves in.

“A lot of families work, so to be able to pick up a child in a safe way and transport them to the programming gives them accessibility to the programming. We’re trying to break down all the barriers to get kids to be able to access

the programming,” Sterk said.

“And for a parent with a kid with neurodiversity, every opportunity is a learning opportunity,” she added. “Getting kids in the transition to a program can make a huge difference. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it’s a nice, calm and inclusive environment to get a kid to the program itself?”

“We have never turned a participant away because of ability, confidence, behavior or

skill level.”

– Lauren Soverino

Moving forward, Sterk and Soverino expect Nantucket S.T.A.R. to keep growing. Right now, they have 15 dedicated staff members, many of whom are active or retired teachers and therapists. The group is also expanding its volunteer base, another key piece for the organization.

“Our programming provides an opportunity to participate in these activities that they otherwise would not be able to access because of their cognitive or physical level, or their social-emotional skill set, or behavior,” Soverino said. “We make sure they can access

it, with the intention of them then ultimately being able to find greater participation within the community.”

For more information on Nantucket S.T.A.R. and its summer fundraiser, visit nantucketstar.org.

SCAN FOR MORE INFO

Nantucket S.T.A.R. participants on a nature walk at the University of Massachusetts Boston Field Station in Polpis

A SUCCESS STORY IN

HOUSING

WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

How the Boys & Girls Club solved their own problem.

The newest Boys & Girls Club house.

We’ve all heard the same story. How can island nonprofits survive without employee housing? It’s a common refrain on Nantucket, yet few organizations have been able to effectively address their housing needs, which are essential for their survival.

“We wouldn’t be open without employee housing,” said Jamie Foster, chief executive officer of the Boys & Girls Club. “There’s no way we could hire and retain qualified employees that have a background in child development.”

In 2017, the club’s board purchased the land for housing when it came up for sale. Board emeritus John Loose convinced the board it would be in the club’s best interest to invest in the land if it wanted to attract and retain a specialized staff of employees, especially people from off-island. Board members pitched in with plans to create multiple units on the lot. While the purchase and construction price was daunting, the purchase turned out to be crucial.

“If you believe in a ratio of 13 kids to one staff member and then start looking at the projections on student population at the school, and you look at our projections on the number of kids coming over, with this kind of growth we’re going to need staff,” Loose said. “But where do we put them?”

Successful fundraising was the club’s next strategy toward its goal of creating employee housing. The club has raised over $6 million to date toward employee housing. Its most recent house was completed last year and is one of six on the club’s Sparks Avenue Campus, all of which are used as employee housing for yearround and summer staff alike. Four year-round staff members live in one of its mirroring units. Four more will move in this summer.

Boys & Girls Club executive officer

Jamie Foster and board vice-chair

Bess Clarke

Having real estate experts and architects on the board was a critical component to both understanding the problem and being able to execute. Architect Matthew MacEachern, the board chair, turned out to be the perfect choice to facilitate the club’s mission to provide housing. He said the idea behind the housing complex was to create a mini neighborhood where the architecture itself fits into the surrounding area, where parking is available and where each employee can have dignity in the place they live.

In the newest building on Sparks Avenue, for example, each bedroom has its own bathroom.

“It’s critical,” MacEachern said. “We would not be open at the capacity that we are without this. There are 350 children today that come through the club in the school year.”

“We would not be open at the capacity we are without this.”

– Matthew MacEachern

Of the club’s 29 full-time, yearround staff members, 90% live in employee housing. All 34 bedrooms in the six different Sparks Avenue

and Pleasant Street buildings in the housing campus are currently occupied or will be occupied once summer employees join the staff this June.

Like other island organizations, including the Nantucket Cottage Hospital and Nantucket Public Schools—two of the island’s biggest employers—the Boys & Girls Club requires specialized staff to operate, so housing has become an essential recruitment tool. “If

Jamie Foster and Bess Clarke.

The board and staff of the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club at one of their homes on Sparks Avenue.

we weren’t able to attract people who have the talent, this would be a basic club with basic programming,” said the club’s board vice chair, Bess Clarke.

The house is also a success story. It provides Boys & Girls Club employees a relatively cheap place to live comfortably, at a time when rental and ownership prices are skyrocketing. For most new hires on Nantucket, particularly young adults early in their career, purchasing a home has become all but impossible.

While the town has appropriated over $84 million for affordable housing in recent years, the price of housing has refused to budge. Other attempts have been made for a so-called Housing Bank that would earmark funding for affordable housing through a transfer fee similar to the Land Bank, though numerous efforts have been met with loud opposition from real estate agents on Beacon Hill. Organizations like Housing Nantucket also provide options for homebuyers and renters through its covenant home program, though the need for more housing still exists.

“This has been a constant battle. Any time you have a popular destination—and we’re not the only ones dealing with this—more and more people want to come here and it’s supply and demand,” MacEachern said. “The cost of real estate is going higher and higher and doesn’t allow people to enter the market.”

Finding a reasonably priced rental unit has become a game of knowing

“The days when you didn’t have to think of [employee housing] are long over.”

– Bess Clarke

the right people—or the right employer, if your boss has staffing housing. Otherwise, renters can expect to pay exorbitant prices for a rental unit or opt into the Nantucket shuffle: the constant state of moving from place to place, often with multiple roommates. That, or they live off-island.

“The business model not only with for-profit businesses, but for the nonprofits, is that you have to build employee housing into your fundraising in order to retain employees,” Clarke said. “The days when you didn’t have to think of that are long gone.”

The interior of the newest house features two mirroring units, each with a shared kitchen, dining area living room, and four bedrooms each with their own bathroom.

STRIKING A BALANCE

INTERVIEW BY BRIAN BUSHARD

INTERIOR DESIGN: CAROLYN THAYER INTERIORS

PHOTOGRAPHER: LIZ DALY

BUILDER: RANDY SHARP

There’s a careful balance required when it comes to designing the interior of a Nantucket home—modernity and tradition; functional amenities and practical classics. Carolyn Thayer has carved out a career designing some of the most beautiful home interiors on the island, doing so with an eye for beauty and endurance. She embraces tradition, and at the same time, she works with each client to make a home unique.

“Ignoring tradition in an antique home to me would be missing an important understanding of where one is, while adding layers of antiques to a modern home would feel out of place,” said Thayer, the founder and lead designer of Carolyn Thayer Interiors. “Striking the balance would depend on the home, the piece and other elements that could bring the culture together.” N Magazine caught up with Thayer to discuss her interior design philosophy, and her work on Nantucket, starting with a recently designed home on Meadow View Drive developed by Randy Sharp.

Carolyn Thayer Interiors led the design on this Meadow View Drive home.

Generally speaking, what is your design philosophy?

In my opinion, any design philosophy stems from the homeowner. A home may speak to a coastal or city environment and we would always want to nod towards that. However, it is always important to understand the likes and dislikes of the occupant to ensure it is a reflection of them.

Does the island present unique opportunities or considerations when it comes to interior design?

We have worked on homes that are historic, transitional and very modern. Color, or lack thereof, can do a lot to create an opportunity that can then be built upon during the design process.

The modern nature, highlighted artwork, use of texture and lighting fixtures bring this house to life, Thayer said.

Bedrooms in this home feature slick design elements and contemporary light fixtures for a balance between traditional and modern.

What was your approach with the Meadow View Drive home?

This home was built previous to the owners purchase, therefore the goal has always been to make the living spaces their own and reflect their likes and lifestyle. The client has lovely taste so beginning with that was key to a successful project.

Generally speaking, how do you find ways to make each interior space stand out, when compared to other homes you have worked on?

Each home has its own reason for standing out and this one is no exception. The modern nature, highlighted artwork, use of texture and lighting fixtures all make their own statements to bring this house to life.

The light fixtures—like the artwork—pop in this home. What was the approach there?

We didn’t go overboard with lighting in this home, rather complimented the other elements as you might see with the related colors next to George Washington.

The dining room of the Meadow View home

Managed by

Jon Waterman

Bob Woodward

Suzy Welch

Charmaine Wilkerson

Ocean Vuong

Dawn Tripp

Jason Reynolds

Loretta J. Ross Christian Sheppard Wright Thompson Adam Ross

Wally Lamb

Victor Luckerson

Ann Leary

Betsy Lerner

Patrick Radden Keefe Imani Perry

Molly Jong-Fast

Lisa Genova

Carl Hiaasen Alice Hoffman Jenny Johnson

Patti Callahan Henry

Kim Coleman Foote

Meenakshi Ahamed

Geraldine Brooks Richard Cary Billy Costa Jennifer Finney Boylan

StyleON TAP

PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN SAGER

EDITORIAL STYLIST: PETRA HOFFMANN

HAIR STYLING: DARYA AFSHARI GAULT OF DARYA SALON + SPA

MAKEUP STYLING: JURGITA BUDAITE OF ISLAND GLOW

VENUE: CISCO BREWERS

MAGGIE INC. MODELS

FEMALE MODEL: KASSANDRA HOSTAGE

MALE MODEL: CALEB FOSTER

HER TOP AND PANTS: REMY

BAG: SARA CAMPBELL

JEWELRY AND SUNGLASSES: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

HIM

SHIRT, SHORTS AND BELT: SOUTHERN TIDE

SWEATER AND SUNGLASSES: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

HER DRESS: DÔEN

JACKET: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

JEWELRY: KATHERINE GROVER

HIM SHIRT AND SWEATER: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

PANTS: SOUTHERN TIDE

HER TOP: DÔEN

SKIRT: CARTOLINA X CENTRE POINTE

JEWELRY: KATHERINE GROVER

SUNGLASSES: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

HIM SHIRT AND PANTS: SOUTHERN TIDE

BRACELETS, BELT, AND WATCH: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

ON TABLE

HAT AND HANDBAG: SARA CAMPBELL

SUNGLASSES STRAP AND KEYCHAINS: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

SUNGLASSES: SOUTHERN TIDE

HIM SHIRT AND PANTS: SOUTHERN TIDE BRACELETS, BELT, AND WATCH: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

HER:

CARTOLINA X CENTRE POINTE EARRINGS AND NECKLACES: HEIDI WEDDENDORF BRACELETS:

MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP BAG: SOUTHERN TIDE

TOP: DÔEN SKIRT:

HIM SHIRT:

MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

JEANS: SOUTHERN TIDE

HER TOP: REMY

JEANS: DÔEN

BAG: SARA CAMPBELL

JEWELRY: KATHERINE GROVER

HIM SHIRT, JEANS AND SUNGLASSES: SOUTHERN TIDE

JACKET AND WATCH: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

HER TOP: DÔEN

PANTS: SARA CAMPBELL

JEWELRY: KATHERINE GROVER

SCARF: CARTOLINA X CENTRE POINTE

HER TOP AND PANTS: REMY

AND SUNGLASSES: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

HIM SHIRT, BELT AND SHORTS: SOUTHERN TIDE

SWEATER AND SUNGLASSES: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

BAG: SARA CAMPBELL

JEWELRY

DRESS: SARA CAMPBELL

HAT: SOUTHERN TIDE

HIM HAT, SHIRT, WATCH, AND SHOES: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP PANTS AND PULLOVER: SOUTHERN TIDE

HER

TOP AND JEANS: DÔEN

BAG: SARA CAMPBELL SCARF AND JEWELRY: MURRAY’S TOGGERY SHOP

EVERY ROOM

TELLS A STORY

Introducing Nantucket’s Most Captivating Hotel

76 Main Ink Press Hotel provides a fascinating glimpse into Nantucket’s media past within a totally redesigned seacoast environment.

With its subtle blue hues and textured surfaces, 76 Main is more s one that showcases the fascinating past of this historic island through a media lens over the centuries.

Come experience a one-of-a-kind adventure while being pampered with luxury linens, crafted continental breakfasts, and a calming outdoor lounge. Luxuriate today while savoring the richness of Nantucket’s past.

DAFFODIL CAR PARADE AND PICNIC

The rain held off for the morning of the 49th annual Nantucket Daffodil Festival, with classic cars galore—convertibles included—lining Main Street before parading to Sconset for a soggy but enthusiastic tailgate picnic. Despite the rain, Nantucket was still abuzz for the weekend, one of the first signs of spring on the island, as cold winter days long gone paved the way for one of the biggest and brightest blossoms in recent years.

SCALLOPALOOZA

The Nantucket Shellfish Association's Scallopalooza at Cisco Brewers marked the end of the island's commercial scalloping season, with demonstrations, food, raffles, music, and more to raise money for the NSA's Youth Shellfish Education and other programs. But perhaps the most highly anticipated portion of the event was the shucking competition, which was divided into a "pro" division and an "amateur" division.

FLOWER POWER

The Nantucket Historical Association's Whaling Museum was in full bloom for the annual Flower Power party, with light bites, drinks and music helping ring in the spring season the night before the Daffodil Car Parade.

ROUGH SEAS

Surfside Lifesaving Station, 1906.

A look at Nantucket’s Life Saving Stations and U.S. Coast Guard Station Brant Point.

IMAGES COURTESY OF THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION'S ARCHIVES

Surfside Lifesaving Station, 1880s.

Coskata Lifesaving Station, 1908.

Muskeget Lifesaving Station crew, 1910s.

Surfside Lifesaving Station, 1870.

Surfside Lifesaving Station, 1870s.

Madaket Lifesaving Station, 1920s.

Coast Guard cutter Acushnet and schooner B.F. Warford near Brant Point, 1920s.

Coast Guard Station Brant Point tower, 1950s.

Surfside Lifesaving Station, 1897.

Muskeget Lifesaving Station, 1917.

A life-saving drill at the Surfside Lifesaving Station. Muskeget Lifesaving Crew with Captain Adolph Rhodin, 1910s.

Muskeget Lifesaving Station crew testing a Francis Metal Lifecar, 1910. Coskata Lifesaving Station and its watchtower, 1930s.

Muskeget Lifesaving Station crew in a dory, 1900s.

Coskata Lifesaving Station, 1914.

Surfside Lifesaving Station crew with captain Eugene Clisby, 1918.

Madaket Lifesaving Station, 1890s. Surfside Lifesaving Station, 1910s.

INTRODUCING NOURISH NANTUCKET

The Central Source Fighting Food Insecurity on the Island

The fact that Hunger exists for 1 our of 5 year-round residents on Nantucket is hard to comprehend.

The fact is the high cost of housing on Nantucket, often impacts the ability to buy food.

Nourish Nantucket was created to coordinate the various food agencies

featured wedding

• Venue: Siasconset Union Chapel & Jimmy Jaksic • Photographer: Brian Sager

PPX Patisserie Florist: Sayles Livingston Design

Nantucket Party Rentals • Bridal Hair:

• Bride’s Dress: Oscar de la Renta

Stationery/Paper: Wouldn’t It Be Lovely

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More people rely on the Current for their news than any publication on the island. Our work has also been cited by some of the most respected media outlets in the country and beyond.

Nantucket Current provides instant news to your phone or email inbox. The news doesn’t wait to break every Thursday, so why should you? Discover why thousands of Nantucketers now view the Current as their single source of news.

Sunny Hostin

Kristin Hannah Kevin Kwan Reid

21 Broad Hotel

76 Main, Ink Press Hotel

A Safe Place

Artists Association of Nantucket

Atheneum

Atlantic Landscaping

Audrey Sterk Design

Bar Yoshi

Bartlett’s Farm Books, Beach & Beyond

Brian Sager Photography

Carolyn Thayer Interiors

Cartier

Christian Angle Real Estate

Classic Sofa

CMC Construction

Community Foundation for Nantucket

Compass - Marybeth Gilmartin-Baugher

Darya

Doen

Douglas Elliman

Eleish Van Breems

exp Realty

Fisher Real Estate

Four Winds Painting

Gail Roberts, Ed Feijo & Team

Gibson Sotheby’s - Michael Carucci

Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation

Great Point Properties

Heidi Weddendorf

International Wine Vault

Island Glow Nantucket

J Pepper Frazier Real Estate

James Robinson

Jobe Systems

Katherine Grover Fine Jewelry

LandVest Christie’s International Real Estate

Lee Real Estate

Marine Home Center

Maury People - Bernadette Meyer

Maury People - Gary Winn

Maury People - John McGarr

Maury People - Susan Chambers

Meg Lonergan Interiors

Murray’s

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Nantucket

Nantucket Land & Water

Noble Fine Art

Nourishing Nantucket

Olson Twombly

Payne Bouchier Fine Builders

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REMY

Roller Rabbit

Sandpiper Place II

Sara Campbell

Seaman Schepps

Skyline Flight

Southern Tide

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The

Tom Hanlon Landscaping

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To learn more about the many advertising opportunities available with N Magazine, contact Emme Duncan, Director of Advertising and Partnerships, at emmeduncan@n-magazine.com