Amidst the crisp autumn air of Nantucket, former President Joe Biden was seen enjoying a Thanksgiving Day stroll with his family. Despite his ongoing battle with cancer, the 83-year-old patriarch maintained his long-standing holiday tradition, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.

Biden’s entourage included his son Hunter, Hunter’s wife Melissa, their four children, and his daughter Ashley. The family meandered through Nantucket’s historic downtown, taking time to browse through various shop windows. Their leisurely walk included a heartwarming moment when Biden paused to tip a street fiddler, slipping a $20 bill into the musician’s case. The group later headed to Lemon Press, a favored café renowned for its upscale daytime offerings.

Sporting a casual baseball cap, Biden acknowledged photographers with a friendly thumbs-up. Meanwhile, his wife Jill was seen separately, selecting flowers to adorn the family’s holiday celebration.

This public appearance follows closely on the heels of Biden’s recent health update. In late October, he wrapped up radiation treatment for aggressive prostate cancer, a diagnosis he had publicly shared in May.

The Biden family arrived at the island the previous Saturday, having flown in aboard a Cape Air Tecnam Traveller plane, ready to embrace their cherished Thanksgiving tradition.

Biden and his family arrived on Nantucket by a Cape Air Tecnam Traveller plane on last Saturday.

It couldn’t have been a more stark contrast to last year when the entourage arrived aboard Air Force One. 

This time, a modest motorcade of black SUVs escorted the former president from Nantucket Memorial Airport to the waterfront estate of billionaire David Rubenstein, where the Bidens have stayed in years gone by.

Former President Joe Biden, wearing a black baseball cap, gave a thumbs-up towards photographers as he and he his family walked the streets of Nantucket

Biden was spotted strolling through the heart of Nantucket on Thanksgiving Day with his grandchildren

As the family passed a street musician, Biden paused and placed a $20 bill into the open gig case

A Nantucket police spokesperson confirmed that ‘former President Biden is here on-island,’ and said local officers have been coordinating with the former president’s security detail throughout the stay.

A source familiar with island preparations told The Inquirer and Mirror that Biden was traveling with about 45 Secret Service agents – a noticeable presence, but far smaller than during his presidency. 

Unlike in previous years residents were told there would be no security checkpoints, metal detectors, or barricades along Main Street for the annual tree-lighting ceremony.

For decades, the Biden family’s Thanksgiving meals were prepared by Faregrounds Restaurant, though recent reporting indicates the family now relies on a private chef.

Last year, Biden, Jill, and their family delivered pumpkin pies to local police officers and firefighters before shopping downtown and attending the Main Street tree-lighting ceremony.

Biden’s relationship with Nantucket stretches back nearly five decades. 

The former Delaware senator, vice president, and one-term president has spent Thanksgiving on the island nearly every year since 1975, typically staying through the long holiday weekend.

Photos posted to social media over the weekend showed Biden and his family waiting at Logan International Airport before flying to the island. 

Jill Biden was seen flower shopping with her daughter Ashley in Nantucket

Hunter was photographed walking along Main Street with his arm wrapped around his wife Melissa Biden

Two women were thrilled to run into Biden on Nantucket and shared a selfie

Customers and shop owners alike seemed happy to meet the former president

Last weekend, daughter Ashley posted a photo depicting the former president together with wife, Jill, crammed aboard a tiny Cape Air Tecnam Traveller propellor plane

Once on the island, Biden wasted no time resuming familiar routines.

On Sunday, he was seen at The Brotherhood of Thieves – one of his longtime favorite restaurants on Broad Street where he posed for photos with two local children.

The appearance came just days after Biden celebrated his 83rd birthday on November 20, a moment acknowledged publicly by Jill Biden on Instagram.

In May, Biden revealed he had been diagnosed with late-stage prostate cancer, and in August, he appeared publicly with a large bandage on his head following Mohs surgery, a procedure used to remove skin cancer.

Earlier this month, Biden addressed both his own illness and the death of his eldest son during a speech at the Nebraska Democratic Party’s Ben Nelson Gala, drawing an emotional parallel between their battles with cancer.

‘Cancer hits every family. It’s hit my family hard,’ Biden said.

‘When the love of my life, my oldest son, the attorney general of the state of Delaware – who should’ve been the president, not me – volunteered to go to Iraq for a year, didn’t have to, he came back with stage four glioblastoma because he lived in a burn pit just like those guys did on 9/11, and he died.’

He also described his own recent treatment.

Earlier this month, Biden addressed both his own illness and the death of his eldest son during a speech to the Nebraska Democratic Party, drawing an parallel between their cancer battles 

‘When you get that research they’re doing, when they diagnose it – in my case, I just had prostate cancer – when you finish that round of treatment, you get to ring that bell at the end of each treatment,’ Biden said. 

‘Well, thank God for the doctors and nurses and incredible breakthroughs we’re making in cancer research.’