West Tisbury businesses, from a gas station to farm stand vendors, fear that the partial closure of South Road and prominent detour signs spurred by President Obama’s visit will hurt sales during one of the busiest weeks of the year.
President Obama arrived for a nine-day visit on Martha’s Vineyard last Saturday. The first family is staying at a private home off South Road in Chilmark. Because of security concerns, South Road is closed between Meeting House Road and Wooton Bassett Road until August 18.
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“We are very impacted by this,” said Andrea Rogers, manager for the Vineyard Artisans Festivals, which take place Thursdays and Sundays at the Grange Hall. More than 70 artists sell ceramics, jewelry and art at the festivals.
“August is our make it or break it month, so this is the worst possible time of the year to block access,” she added. “It impacts a lot of people.”
Already, Ms. Rogers said, there were fewer people at last Sunday’s festival. She said the signs make it seem that people have to turn right, away from the downtown area, and that the signs are especially confusing to visitors.
“I know they have to do what they have to do,” she said. “I understand the way the world works. I just feel it could have been done a bit differently.”
“We’re really in a bad position at a critical time of year . . . we’re trying to survive the winter.”
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Chris Scott, executive director for the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust which owns Alley’s, said he anticipated a 25 per cent loss in gross sales for this week over last year. “The parking lot is full of empty spaces – it’s August and it shouldn’t be,” he said. “For this week in August, it’s a very big hit. It’s the busiest week of the year. If the season is 100 days, a week is very significant.” “You don’t get this week in August back for a year,” he continued. “That’s what happens when you take the major east/west corridor and turn it into a dead end.”
An apt metaphor for the US economy, I think. Why should the Vineyard be any different? Anyway, don’t we live to serve the king?
“I’m the one who’s so concerned because it’s my biggest week,” said Linda Alley, the co-organizer of the West Tisbury farmers’ market. She sells her jams at the Wednesday and Saturday markets near the Grange Hall. On Wednesday morning, she and fellow organizer Rusty Gordon will arrive in town early to place handmade signs around to remind people that the farmers’ market is still open and accessible. “It’s horrible,” she said. “People are so confused. Other people have mentioned to me about how confusing it is . . . people have asked me, ‘Does that mean the gas station isn’t open?’
The gas station is the one place doing a booming business. The president’s motorcade has to fill up at least once. So many limos, SUVs, and other gas-guzzlers, I’m surprised there’s a drop of gas left.
Anyway, one item’s selling out all over the island:
I’ve asked this before, but where did Barack Obama get his champagne tastes? As far as I know, he wasn’t a regular visitor to the Vineyard as an Illinois state senator; neither was he the regular golfer he has become. I could be wrong, but I don’t think Michelle and the girls traveled to Europe for ski vacations—at the same time Barack took his own holiday on the Florida links. Did he always fly his dog on its own chopper? (Did he even own a dog on his own dime?)
To be fair, Bill Clinton also sponged off rich supporters (and the American taxpayer) to hobnob with the high and mighty on the Vineyard. But President Bush took vacations on his own ranch in Crawford, Texas; Reagan at his California spread. Bush 41 liked the water too, but at his own place in Kennebunkport. I think the last Democrat to spend down time in all the old familiar places was Jimmy Carter in Plains, GA. The rest of them talk down to the common man and woman, but don’t want to be near them.
