Joe Biden has been visiting Nantucket for Thanksgiving for decades, but this year, he’ll make his first such trip as president.
If you live on Nantucket, it's hard not to notice that President Joe Biden is about to arrive.
Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror Managing Editor Josh Balling has been watching the ramp-up in security for the past several days.
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"The airport's been incredibly busy," he said. "We actually had a whole fleet of state police motorcycles come in yesterday as well on the ferry."
Biden's visit is nothing new for the island. Though he doesn't own property there, he has spent all but two Thanksgivings with his family on Nantucket since the 1970s, when he was a U.S. senator and then vice president.
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Balling said Biden "would sign autographs, he would take pictures, he went cycling, he'd show up in restaurants and go shopping."
Part-time resident Heidi Beardsley has chatted with Biden on Nantucket in years past.
"It was always sort of exciting in town to see the Secret Service, and he was very friendly and his family and his dog," she said, adding that she does not expect a sighting this time
"It might be a little too disruptive this year," Beardsley said.
The island is known for attracting the rich and famous, though resident Simon Edwards pointed out, "I think what people like about Nantucket is it's pretty low-key, so you don't actually -- people don't really rush around looking for celebrities, but we do have celebrities there."
Balling said, "We have more -- people of influence might be better. We have a lot of CEOs."
Nantucket's neighbor to the west, Martha's Vineyard, is more closely associated with presidential visits, Balling said. It's the vacation spot of choice for former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Beth Linskey was heading over to Nantucket for Thanksgiving and plans to keep an eye out for the President.
Will she say anything if she sees him?
"Like hello? Yes!" Linskey said.
The first sitting president to spend the night on Nantucket was Ulysses S Grant in 1874, when he stayed at the still-operating Jared Coffin house.
