Joe Biden Visits Nantucket For Final Time As President
Jason Graziadei •
Air Force One took off from Nantucket Memorial Airport Saturday night with President Joe Biden and his family aboard, concluding their final Thanksgiving visit to the island of Biden's presidency.
The trip was remarkably similar to the Bidens' previous visits to Nantucket over the past three years, as the family stuck to a familiar routine.
The first family once again stayed at the waterfront compound of private equity billionaire and philanthropist David Rubenstein off Rabbit Run Road on Nantucket Harbor. For the third year in a row, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden visited the Nantucket Fire Department on Thanksgiving to meet with first responders working on the holiday.
"I’m thankful for — for my family," President Biden said at the firehouse. "I’m thankful for a peaceful transition of the presidency. And I’m thankful for the fact that, I think, with the grace of God and the goodwill of the neighbors and a little bit of luck, we’re going to get some more progress in the Middle East. And I’m really thankful for being able to get the first piece done on Lebanon. There’s a lot to be thankful for."
On Black Friday, the Bidens once again dined at The Brotherhood of Thieves before walking and shopping around downtown Nantucket on their way to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Main Street. As they departed the island on Saturday, the Bidens once again received a farewell on the tarmac of Nantucket Memorial Airport from their friends Bill and Kim Puder of Faregrounds restaurant.
Throughout the visit, there were some unique moments as the Bidens interacted with island residents. Here are a few of those stories:
Inside the Brotherhood of Thieves on Friday, President Biden was holding court and making conversation with other diners at the Broad Street establishment. One of them was Palma Tramontana Harman, the mother of Cisco Brewers CEO Jay Harman, a part-owner of the Brotherhood.
"I told President Biden that my mom had curlers in her hair at 5 a.m. in anticipation of meeting him at the Brotherhood," Harman said. "They had a nice conversation."
Our sources tell us that President Biden ordered a burger while Jill and Hunter Biden had the chowder.
Just before the Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Main Street, island resident Ruthie Cadet bumped into President Biden in front of Murray's Toggery Shop and struck up a conversation. She eventually convinced Biden to talk to her mother in Florida over the phone. Cadet made the call and handed the phone to President Biden.
"Hello, mom, how are you? It's Joe Biden," President Biden said. "It's Joe Biden. President Biden, I'm with your daughter."
Cadet said the moment was simply surreal for both her and her mother.
“My mom couldn’t believe she was talking to him on the phone, so he said video call her, and I did, and he waited and spoke to her via FaceTime,” Cadet told the Current. “She was in Florida at home in the kitchen…She answered and saw the President standing next to me and was speechless.”
Among the downtown businesses the Bidens visited for some shopping on Black Friday was the Samuel Owen Gallery on Centre Street. President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, spent a good 15 minutes at the gallery checking out photographer David Yarrow's image of the Brotherhood of Thieves restaurant, where they had just dined for lunch. Biden also left a note for gallery owners Lee and Cindy Milazzo: "My son Hunter is a big fan. I love your gallery."
Following the conclusion of the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, President Biden jumped up on the stage and took some time for photos with the Nantucket High School chorus group Accidentals & Naturals, which had been singing carols during the event. Nantucket Current reporter David Creed got a video of the interaction on Main Street:
The Associated Press also was on-hand to document the Bidens at the community event:
As the Bidens visit came to a conclusion Saturday evening, they were greeted on the tarmac at Nantucket Memorial Airport by Bill and Kim Puder, who have known the couple for decades and cooked their Thanksgiving meals for nearly as long. The moment was captured in this Forbes video: