November on Martha’s Vineyard means it’s time to get out and enjoy the foliage and sunsets on the empty beaches. This month brings back Opera, the Barn-Raisers Ball, and holiday shopping. Here a few of our favorite activities on-island this month:

• Drumming on the Beach - Tuesday, November 1st & 8th at 6:00pm to 8:00pm - Join us for drumming on State Beach. Drumming on the beach is an opportunity for Rhythm of Life’s elite drummers to perform. Come dance and enjoy a performance by Rhythm of Life’s current resident elite drummers. Look for the big red Camp Jabberwocky bus. They are regulars and have been there for 40 years.
• Met Opera Live: La Traviata - Saturday, November 5 at 12:55pm - Michael Mayer’s vibrant production will have three runs throughout the season, featuring sopranos Nadine Sierra, Ermonela Jaho, and Angel Blue singing Violetta, one of opera’s greatest heroines. Tenors Stephen Costello, Ismael Jordi (in his Met debut), and Dmytro Popov share the role of Violetta’s self-centered lover Alfredo, alongside baritones Luca Salsi, Amartuvshin Enkhbat (another debut), and Artur Rucinski as his disapproving father. Daniele Callegari, Marco Armiliato, and Nicola Luisotti are the three maestros who will conduct.
• Music Street Concert - Saturday, November 5 at 4:00pm - Music Street’s fall concert will showcase the great song tradition of Great Britain and America in a program titled “Back and Forth across the Pond.” Award-winning graduates of the Longy School of Music soprano Hannah Meloy and baritone David Mather will be accompanied by pianist Diane Katzenberg Braun. The drama of war, the sea, love and political ambition will alternate with duets from Broadway and a touch of Gilbert and Sullivan. This concert is sponsored by the Friends of the West Tisbury Library and the West Tisbury Library Foundation.
• Barn Raisers Ball - Saturday, November 5, 2022 from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
• Grateful Dead Meet Up at the Movies - Saturday, November 5 at 7:30pm - This highly anticipated fan event is in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s ground-breaking concert from the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Apr. 17, 1972. This event was the Dead’s first major live concert broadcast anywhere, and a first in Danish television history. Now, fully restored and color corrected in High Definition with audio mixed from the 16-track analog master tapes, Tivoli 4/17/72 features nearly an hour and a half of the Grateful at a peak of their performing career. The show’s many highlights include magnificent versions of “China Cat Sunflower,” “I Know You Rider,” “Truckin’,” “He’s Gone,” “Ramble on Rose,” “Jack Straw,”“One More Saturday Night,” and more. Tickets: $15 general admission, $12 member, $10 child (age 14 or younger).
• Holiday Gift Show - Beginning Monday, November 14 at 12:00pm to 4:00pm - Presenting Featherstone's 20th annual Holiday Gift Show! Celebrate the holiday season while supporting Island artists and Featherstone! The perfect holiday shopping destination with gifts for everyone (and yourself) - handmade creations including paintings, photography, pottery, crafts, jewelry, knitwear, clothing, purses, accessories, soaps, dog goods, ornaments, cards, calendars and stocking stuffers. Buy local and support local artists all while supporting Featherstone as well! 'Tis the season for supporting the arts community!
• The Evolution of Morning Glory Flowers - Tuesday, November 15 at 1:00pm to 2:30pm - The Wakeman Center will pair with Robyn Athearn of Morning Glory Farm on a presentation titled The Evolution of Morning Glory Flowers. Hear how Morning Glory Farm went from growing and selling their flowers in late July and August at their farm stand, to having something to grow/ sell most of the year all over the island. Robyn will take us through what crops they grow and why they grow them, what their biggest cash crops are, some tricks of the trade and what their plans are for the future of Morning Glory Flowers.
• MV Chamber Music Society presents the Cape Cod Quintet - Saturday, November 19 at 4:00pm to 5:30pm - The Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra and its director, Matt Scinto, have been gathering rave reviews for their concerts in southeastern Massachusetts and on the Cape. Last year, the orchestra performed at the Martha's Vineyard Performing Arts Center to an enthusiastic response, and the M.V. Chamber Music Society is happy to welcome Scinto once again, along with the Cape Cod Chamber Quintet, featuring members of the orchestra. The program includes Schubert's Cello Quintet, as well as the music of Jacques Offenbach and Antonin Dvorak. Click the website link for more information and to purchase tickets.
• Horse Drawn Carriage Rides - November 24 & November 25 at the Harbor View Hotel
• 41st Annual Fall Festival at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary - Friday, November 25 at 10:00am to 2:00pm - Join us for our 41st annual Fall Festival. This year's theme is All for Nature & Nature for All. There will be: hay rides, nature crafts, wreath making, bird feeder making station, squash bowling, music, s'mores by the fire, food for sale and so much more! This is an all age’s event taking place on the day after Thanksgiving, Friday. Nov. 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date: Nov. 26, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Vineyard Artisans Thanksgiving Weekend Festival - Friday, November 25th & 26th at 10:00am to 4:00pm - This largest holiday art show by Islanders, features many holiday gifts such as one of a kind winter hand-made sweaters, hand-made soaps, Island lavender, and fine crafts including leather and vintage material bags, wood butcher block cutting boards, and so much more. The best part of coming to the Vineyard Artisan Festivals is meeting the artists and listening to how they love their art and enjoy making these beautiful gifts. Great food and live music.
• Johnny Hoy + the Bluefish - Wednesdays in November at 8:00pm at the Ritz