Pumpkin Festival

If you can carve away some time on Oct. 14, Morning Glory Farm hosts its annual Pumpkin Festival. The smashing event should get you pumped up for Halloween with pumpkin painting and carving, hayrides, cider pressing, pumpkin bowling, petting pens, haunted potting shed and hay mazes, face painting, photo booths, tie dyeing, and live music.

Chef Look Cooks

It is looking like cooking season, and Chef Look Cooks is back at the Edgartown library with monthly cooking classes. The fall’s classes will all focus on better batters. The October class will be on waffles, November will focus on crepes, and December on cornbread. The classes are free to hungry students, but pre-registration is required.

Martha’s Vineyard Food and Wine Festival

Martha treats her occupants well, far beyond her namesake wine, with bountiful fruits, vegetables, seafood, meats, and dairy. The Martha’s Vineyard Food and Wine Festival, Oct. 19 to 22, will be a weekend your taste buds will never forget, granted you don’t overdo it on the wine. Seven tasting events, featuring local chefs and cuisine, will keep you full and may leave a few sheets to the wind on your sail home.

Harvest Festival

Not to be corny, but fall is the perfect time to harvest up some fun with local traditions, good food, live music, and games. On Oct. 21, the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society will host its annual Harvest Festival. The event will include a pie-eating competition, pumpkin carving, a wild food challenge, a farmers market, music, and educational activities with local nonprofits. 

Barn Raisers Ball 

In 1994, a New Hampshire barn was disassembled and brought to the Island. Three hundred Island volunteers then pieced together the new Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury. After most of the work was done, local musicians Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish took to the dusty dirt floor, wood not yet laid, and jammed out while the barn raisers danced the night away. Every year, the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society hosts the Barn Raisers Ball, a free community dance party to remember and celebrate everyone who helped. This year, on Nov. 4, Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish will play for everyone who wants to come party at the Agricultural Hall, toast to the Barn Raisers, and enjoy the dessert potluck. 

Ghost Island Farm

You would think, given the name, Ghost Island Farm in West Tisbury wouldn’t need to dress up for Halloween. Think again. Farmer Rusty Gordon takes this holiday seriously, known to dress the farmstand up with, quite literally, to-die-for Halloween decorations. When questioned what 2023 will bring, the mysterious man used the words “big,” “fabulous,” and “magnificent” but gave no hints to what we can expect to see this October.

The Pawnee House

The Pawnee House, a location cornered in history between the original 1872 Pawnee House Hotel and the first 1930 location of Giordano’s in Oak Bluffs, is now a contemporary comfort food restaurant. This fall, the restaurant will serve food and entertainment all day long, with the return of brunch, movie nights, and pop-ups with Island chefs. The menu, which maintains many vegan options, will shift focus to fall dishes, including vegan harvest savory pot pie.

The Farm Institute

As summer ends and autumn begins, sand is vacuumed out of cars, boogie boards are stored away, and kissing the sun goodbye can make you feel like breaking down. The Farm Institute, in partnership with the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society, is harnessing the energy of this breakdown with their fall Butchery Basics series, including hog and deer breakdown workshops.

Seed Processing and Swap

Autumn is the perfect time to lay the groundwork and sow the seeds for beautiful buds to come. The West Tisbury library has events through the winter and spring to sprout some ideas for your gardens. The Fall Seed Processing Workshop offers an opportunity to save seeds, and the Winter Seed Swap and Spring Seedling Swap offer a chance to share your garden treasures.

Thanksgiving Meals

There is so much to be thankful for on this beautiful Island, and not having to cook is one of them! After a summer you could spend eating somewhere different every night, Island restaurants and farms are here to help provide Thanksgiving meals. Morning Glory Farm, Katama General Store, Little House Cafe, and Black Sheep all have full Thanksgiving takeaway menus, including turkeys, stuffing, sides, and desserts. The Grey Barn and the Larder will have pre-sale opportunities for baked goods and other sides. Beetlebung Farm and North Tabor Farm will sell turkeys, but early pre-order is suggested before the farms run out (the turkeys won’t be running anywhere).

Bad Martha Farmer’s Brewery

Bad Martha Farmer’s Brewery is doing good by Martha’s Vineyard this fall with a schedule packed full of events for the whole family. Throughout the fall, brainiacs can enjoy trivia nights, athletes can enjoy Amity Island Run Club meetings, and we can all enjoy live music. Special weekend events will pop up too, including an Oktoberfest celebration, a pumpkin carving weekend, and a holiday gift market.