Island Treasure Trip Barnes is honored with Creative Living Award.

On Sept 17^th 2018 at the new Ag Hall in West Tisbury, the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard honored Vineyard legend Clarence A “Trip” Barnes as this year’s recipient of their Creative Living award.

Island treasure Barnes, noted as much for his fleet of large colorful moving trucks as well as his large colorful auctioneering skills received the award for his long history of community service to his beloved island home of Martha’s Vineyard.

The event welcomed board members, community members and family and friends of Trip to catered celebration where speakers were invited to come up and chat on stage, which was decorated to resemble the Barnes Moving Company porch, and reminisce with a few of the many, many funny and moving (forgive the pun) stories of his life.  Ross Gannon (friend and previous recipient of the award), told of a story of an unpermitted 3 story house move that Trip orchestrated at 5am. The building weighed 180,000llbs and as it was moved a short distance along main street Vineyard Haven to its new location, trees had to be trimmed and the road was cleared as they went.   The house move took 30 minutes and you certainly couldn’t get away with that today!

Once on his roll Trip got into more stories including how the Vineyard got its first ice arena…donated by an off- island lumber yard owner, who Trip collected lumber from to bring back to the Island. The gentleman had purchased land which included the Walpole Ice Arena, but he had no use for the building, so Trip suggested repurposing it for MV, and embarked on disassembling and transporting it back in his trucks. Inspired by Trips sense of community spirit, the lumber yard owner decided to donate the money it would have cost him to scrap the building to the "cause" and a community build was organized by Trip to re-assemble the Arena.

Trips large family joined him on stage for a family photograph and gift giving and the evening continued with more hilarious stories.

The permanent endowment was started in 1983 and Trip Barnes is the 36th recipient. For a great write up on the whole evening and more of the stories, see the following article in the Vineyard Gazette by Noah Asimow