Music on the Rock 2022 brought reggae, rock, and local Vineyard bands to Vineyard Haven. A high-energy summer concert behind The Cove Golf and Grill.
"Music on the Rock" is the original name for what is now MV Soundfest, an annual outdoor music festival in Vineyard Haven that has run since 2014, founded by Phil daRosa.
Held at 386 State Road, Vineyard Haven, the outdoor space behind the island's mini golf course: for years The Cove Golf and Grill, reborn in summer 2026 as Steere the Course Mini Golf and Grille under new island ownership, with live music still part of the deal. Co-produced by Phil daRosa and Carter Hakala under MV Sound LLC.
A deliberate mix of genres: always a reggae headliner plus rock, soul, folk, and DJ/dance music. Past headliners include Barrington Levy (2025), Anthony B (2023), and The Itals (2022), plus local favorites like Willy Mason and Johnny Hoy and The Bluefish. The 2025 edition was the 5th year at The Cove. Tickets: ~$55/person, kids 12 and under free.
The island has a rich live music scene beyond Soundfest:
Exploring the town? Start with our complete Vineyard Haven guide: food, beaches, parking and the local rhythm, all in one place.
Island tip of the dayTimingNo. 80 of 86New tip at midnight, island time
Lambert's Cove Beach is resident-sticker in summer (locals sometimes wave walkers in after 5 PM, but don't count on it); from mid-September it opens to everyone.
Joshua Slocum, first to sail alone around the world, spent his last years farming in West Tisbury and vanished from Vineyard Haven harbor in November 1909. The voyage, the farm called Fag End, the last departure, and what a visitor can actually see: the harbor, a marker stone by a country road, the museum's Slocum papers, and the book itself.
The red bus that gets the loudest cheer in the Edgartown Fourth of July parade belongs to Camp Jabberwocky, a tuition-free summer camp for people with disabilities that has run on the Vineyard since 1953. An islander's account of where it came from and what it is. For anything official, the camp's own site is the source.
The Feast of the Holy Ghost in Oak Bluffs, held every third full weekend of July since 1928: the Queen Isabel legend behind the free soup, the Sunday parade from the ferry up Circuit Avenue, the crown blessed at Our Lady Star of the Sea, the sopas at the Portuguese-American Club, the club the rest of the year, and how a visitor should behave at the island's Portuguese feast.
Martha's Vineyard from Thanksgiving week 2026 to the end of March 2027, month by month: which restaurants serve Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, the Felix Neck Fall Festival and Light Up Oak Bluffs, Christmas in Edgartown, the exact February closure windows of the year-round restaurants, the winter ferry timetable, the 20 Miler and the Film Festival, weather averages and winter hotel rates.
Lake Tashmoo in Vineyard Haven hides a century of stories: the 1887 waterworks that watered the town, a golf course where a bull was a hazard, town baseball and the frozen winters when islanders raced ice boats.
Dates, the lighthouse lighting, the Main Street parade, winter ferries and who is open: a fact-checked local guide to the island's biggest December weekend (Dec 10-13, 2026).
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