Community Corner
Falmouth Ferry to Return to Edgartown in 2013
The passengers-only ferry from Falmouth to downtown Edgartown will return this summer season after harbormaster Charlie Blair gave town selectmen a thumbs-up Monday. We've got the lowdown and the ferry schedule starting in May.
Edgartown's Memorial Wharf will once again be the scene of daily arrivals, reunions and departures in 2013: The Pied Piper and Sandpiper resume their trips from Falmouth May 24 (see attached schedule).
Monday afternoon, the Edgartown Board of Selectmen formally approved the resumption of the town's annual contract with Falmouth Ferry Service, which pays the town $12,000 a season to bring people, bikes, pets and luggage to downtown Edgartown from Falmouth.
At the board's meeting, Edgartown Harbormaster Charlie Blair told selectmen Margaret Serpa and Arthur Smadbeck that he had only good things to say about Falmouth Ferry. (Selectman Michael Donaroma was not present.)
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"They’ve give us excellent service even in the economic climate we’ve been enduring on the waterfront for the past four years, and they wish to continue, and I have nothing but good comments," Blair said.
"When they get a new captain and he's going too fast, we make one phone call and he's crawling the rest of the season," Blair continued.
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"They're courteous to the other boaters; they share the face of Memorial Wharf with mixed traffic — you have charter sailboats loading and unloading there —and they do it very well.
"The On Time ferry has never had a problem with them, and I think that says a lot," Blair went on, concluding,
"They pay on time."
Smadbeck and Serpa were unanimous in approving the contract.
The fares remain the same as in 2012, Blair said. According to the service's website, one-way tickets on the ferry are $25 for adults, $15 for children, $5 for bikes.
To find out more about Falmouth Ferry Service, visit falmouthedgartownferry.com.
To learn more about the Edgartown Harbormaster, visit edgartown-ma.us.
Editor's note: New MV Patch editor Louisa Hufstader is a cousin and Facebook friend of Edgartown Harbormaster Charlie Blair.
Check back with MV Patch Tuesday for more news from this week's selectmen's meeting, including:
- new package stores;
- the effort to define where medical marijuana may be sold and consumed;
- an increase in the daily limit for commercial scalloping.
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