Travel advisoryStorm Warning on the ferry waters until Sun 10 AM · Steamship Authority travel advisory · High Wind Warning for Martha's Vineyard until Sun 8 AM · Coastal Flood Warning for Martha's Vineyard until Sun 8 PMThe Steamship Authority is continuing to monitor the forecast for the upcoming nor'easter that is expected to have significant effects for Cape Cod and the Islands through Sunday. We are waiving change and cancellation fees for travel scheduled for through Sunday, September 27.Steamship Authority · checked 2:00 PM ET
Flags in a Main Street crowd in Edgartown. The town’s Memorial Day observance is a students’ parade down this street, with a bouquet laid at the memorial outside the courthouse.
Memorial Day weekend on Martha's Vineyard, explained: the Friday March to the Sea at Owen Park, the Monday parade in Vineyard Haven, the Artisans Festival at the Grange Hall, the first Island Queen and Gay Head Light climbs, what is still closed, the prices, and a three-day plan for May 29 to 31, 2027.
Memorial Day weekend is the day the island switches on. The Steamship boats have just started landing in Oak Bluffs, the Island Queen makes its first Falmouth run on the Friday, the last wave of seasonal restaurants unlocks its doors, the Gay Head Light opens for climbing, and the towns hold the quietest and most moving observances of their year: schoolchildren walking to the harbor to throw flowers into the water. It is also the cheapest weekend of the season to be here, with the ocean still too cold to swim and the lifeguards a month away. In 2027 the weekend runs Saturday, May 29 to Monday, May 31. Here is what runs, what does not yet, and what the three days actually look like.
Steamship ferries begin landing in Oak Bluffs in mid-May (May 15 in 2026). The Island Queen from Falmouth starts on the Friday of the weekend, $20 one way and $30 round trip, 35 minutes, passengers only. The Pied Piper from Falmouth to Edgartown starts on Memorial Day. A car on the Steamship is $168 each way on a summer weekend, and the holiday slots go early.
Only 40 to 50 percent of restaurants are open in early May. Chesca’s, Détente and the Covington in Edgartown time their openings for this weekend, and in 2026 the Jetty Beach House on the Oak Bluffs harbor opened for the first time on it.
The lighthouse at the Aquinnah cliffs opened for the 2026 season on Memorial Day weekend, $6 to climb, kids 12 and under free, daytime hours only. The shops at Aquinnah Circle open the same weekend and close around 5 PM.
The Winnetu opens in mid-May at about $325 a night for a room that costs about $1,475 in August. The West Tisbury hostel opens May 15 at about $40 a bunk and the campground on May 20.
The island’s Memorial Day begins on the Friday, at lunchtime, in Vineyard Haven. Around 300 Tisbury School students leave the school at 12:15 PM and walk down Spring Street and Main Street to Owen Park, each carrying a flower. At the pier the band plays, the anthem is sung, Taps is played, and the students throw their flowers into the harbor one at a time, each one for a service member a family lost, while the crowd on the lawn goes silent. The ceremony takes about 45 minutes; the microphone is in the bandstand, so the crowd faces that way. In 2026 the Chilmark, Edgartown and Oak Bluffs schools held their own marches to the water the same day, and Edgartown’s students paraded down Main Street after a bouquet was laid at the memorial outside the courthouse. If you are on the island that Friday, this is the thing to see. Stand back, keep quiet during the flowers, and let the children have the pier.
Vineyard Haven · Owen Park pierPhoto by MV Vacation
The pier at Owen Park in Vineyard Haven, where the Tisbury School march ends and the flowers go into the harbor. On any other spring day it is the quietest place in town.
Saturday and Sunday: the weekend proper
Know Before You Go
What is on
VINEYARD ARTISANS FESTIVAL
The season’s first big makers’ market, Saturday and Sunday of the weekend, 10 AM to 4 PM at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury. Free. More than a hundred island artists and makers in 2026, its 28th year.
GARDEN CLUB PLANT SALE
The Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club sells island-grown plants at the Old Mill in West Tisbury over the weekend. Go early; the good perennials leave in the first hour.
THE GARDENS THEMSELVES
Mytoi on Chappaquiddick is at its best in late May, $10 in season. Polly Hill Arboretum’s visitor center opens for the weekend; the grounds have been open all along.
THE LIGHTHOUSE
The Gay Head Light’s first climbs of the year. The Chappaquiddick ferry goes onto summer hours the Thursday before the holiday, so the Chappy side is reachable all evening.
THE CAROUSEL
The Flying Horses in Oak Bluffs has been running on shorter hours since mid-April, $5 a ride, the oldest platform carousel in the country.
West Tisbury · the Grange HallPhoto by MV Vacation
Inside the Grange Hall in West Tisbury, photographed on a dance night in 2025. Over Memorial Day weekend this floor fills with the Vineyard Artisans Festival’s tables.
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Monday: the parade
The parade is on the Monday morning, and it is a small-town one. It steps off at 10:30 AM from American Legion Post 257 at 47 Martin Road in Vineyard Haven and walks to the Avenue of Flags at Oak Grove Cemetery, where the ceremony is held among the graves with veterans from nearly every branch. In 2026 rain and fog moved it indoors to the Tisbury School gym; the speaker was the county’s veterans services officer, and more than 20 veterans stood for the roll. It is not a spectacle. It is the reason for the weekend, and if you go, go as a guest.
Vineyard Haven · a mast by the harborPhoto by MV Vacation
A flag lowered on a yardarm mast on the island, the way it flies through the morning of Memorial Day.
What is not running yet
Know Before You Go
Know before you book
THE OCEAN
53 to 55 degrees. Beautiful to walk, painful to swim. The water passes 65 in July, not May.
LIFEGUARDS
None until late June at the big beaches. Owen Park and State Beach are the calm choices for children this weekend.
DOGS
Most beach dog bans begin at Memorial Day and run to Labor Day. Lobsterville and Fuller Street stay open to leashed dogs all summer.
THE FARMERS MARKET
The West Tisbury market opens the first Saturday of June (June 6 in 2026), not this weekend. The Grange Hall festival is the market that weekend.
THE WEATHER
Highs average 65 and a cold wind off the water can undo a sunny forecast; the 2026 parade went indoors for fog. Pack a layer, plan a rain option, and you will be fine.
Aquinnah · inside the Gay Head LightPhoto by MV Vacation
The stair inside the Gay Head Light. The tower reopened for climbing on Memorial Day weekend 2026 after a year of restoration, and the weekend is its season opener.
The plan we would make
Come on the Friday morning boat, on foot, and be at Owen Park by 12:30. Sleep in Vineyard Haven or Oak Bluffs so the bus does the rest. Saturday, take the bus up-island for the Grange Hall festival and the plant sale, then on to Aquinnah for the first lighthouse climb of the year and the cliffs at sunset. Sunday, Chappaquiddick: the ferry is on summer hours, Mytoi is at its greenest, and the beach at Wasque is empty. Monday, the parade at 10:30, a late lunch, and the afternoon boat home. Our May guide has the prices and openings week by week, the spring guide covers April, and the June guide is what happens next.
Chappaquiddick · MytoiPhoto by MV Vacation
Mytoi on Chappaquiddick in late spring, when the garden is at its greenest and the ferry has just gone onto summer hours.
Is Memorial Day weekend a good time to visit Martha’s Vineyard?
Yes, for everything but swimming. Nearly every seasonal business is open, the rooms are far below August rates, the bus is free, and the crowds are a fraction of July’s. The ocean is 53 to 55 degrees and there are no lifeguards until late June.
Is there a Memorial Day parade on Martha’s Vineyard?
Yes. The parade steps off at 10:30 AM on the Monday from American Legion Post 257 on Martin Road in Vineyard Haven and walks to Oak Grove Cemetery for the ceremony. On the Friday before, the Tisbury School’s March to the Sea ends at Owen Park with students throwing flowers into the harbor.
When does Memorial Day weekend fall in 2027?
Saturday, May 29 to Monday, May 31, 2027. The Tisbury School march is on Friday, May 28, if it follows its usual pattern; check the school and the town calendars in May.
Do I need a car reservation for the ferry?
For a car, yes, and holiday weekend slots sell out months ahead at $168 each way. Walk-on passengers never need one: $11 each way on the Steamship, or $20 on the Island Queen from Falmouth, which starts that Friday.
What is open on Memorial Day weekend?
Almost everything: the seasonal restaurants, the Aquinnah shops, the Gay Head Light, the Chappy ferry on summer hours, the Flying Horses, Mytoi and Polly Hill. Not yet: lifeguards, the West Tisbury Farmers Market and the East Chop Light sunset tours, all of which start in June.
How we checked this
The March to the Sea details are from the Tisbury School’s 2026 notice and the Martha’s Vineyard Times and Vineyard Gazette reports of May 22 and May 25, 2026; the parade route and time are from the American Legion Post 257 listing. Ferry fares and start dates are the operators’ published 2026 schedules; lodging figures are from our where-to-stay research; restaurant openings from the businesses’ own 2026 announcements. The 2027 dates are the calendar. Check the events calendar before you travel; island dates move.
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Uber and Lyft operate on MV but surge hard in peak season. Local taxis are often steadier: a typical cross-town ride runs about $28, van-pool style, and airport pickups add a small rideshare surcharge.
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Disclaimer: The information in this article is provided for general guidance only and was accurate at the time of writing. Beach conditions, hours, prices, lifeguard schedules, ferry fares, and business operations change frequently and without notice. Ocean swimming carries inherent risks including rip currents, undertow, and cold water shock. Always verify current conditions with official local sources before your visit. MV Vacation assumes no responsibility for any loss, injury, or inconvenience resulting from the use of this information. Swim only where lifeguards are on duty, supervise children at all times near water, and follow all posted safety signs.
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