Summer has officially started. The summer solstice, the longest day of the year, was Wednesday, June 21.
Others may say it was already summer when temperatures were in the high-80s and low-90s Fahrenheit last week.
Another sure sign of summer was the number of outdoor events that were going on this past weekend. Among the events were Elko New Market’s Fire Rescue Days, the Home Run Derby at Union Hill and the start of the Music at the Broz concert series.
For me, ENM’s Fire Rescue Days’ Community Parade was a little wet with some rain, but it was tolerable and helped cut down on the heat and the humidity we could have had. It was still a lot of fun with families enjoying themselves. The children who wanted candy had more than enough, as it seemed most of the 50 entries in the parade were providing some form of sweet treat.
The parade was a fun one with entertainment from the New Prague High School dance team, dance students from Just for Kix, the Lakeville South High School marching band and Tin Cups, a steel drum band. I think this was Tin Cups’ second appearance at the parade and the group, made up of people of all ages, seemed to be having lots of fun.
Personally, I don’t mind a little rain. I’ll take it over a day of more than 90 degrees and humidity. I did say a little rain as, about four years ago, there was a downpour that canceled the parade.
Summer fun
With summer here there are going to be more people having some summer fun. Take your pick what that means for fun. For everyone it’s getting outside more in the form of a walk or biking. For other families, it means having a cookout and eating outside at a picnic table. Other families will have friends over for some outdoor games, especially one some call cornhole or bean bag toss. (Frankly, I’d like to know when did it go from bean bag toss to cornhole.)
Other ideas of summer fun is getting out to the lake to do some fishing or water skiing.
I did do one water activity lately. I was visiting my brother and his family in Brainerd a few weeks ago and my brother decided we should get out and canoe at one of the local lakes. It had been some time since I was last in a canoe. A difference between this little canoe trip and the other one was that I didn’t have blisters on my hand this time.
Thankfully, my brother knows how to paddle far more than I do, so throughout the little trip around the lake he gave me instructions on how to hold the paddle and how to use it so I could get more force from each stroke.
Summer memories With the Fourth of July coming up, there will be a lot of festivals and fireworks people can attend.
One memory I have of the holiday is when I lived near Rochester. In 1996, I had just moved to the area so I didn’t know very many people. I decided to take in a movie in Rochester. Appropriately, it was the science fiction action/adventure “Independence Day.” The movie finished up and I started for home. I was just outside of Rochester when I looked in my rearview mirror and saw fireworks. I found a little offroad spot to park my car and just enjoyed the show.
Another time I was at what was then the Radisson in Bloomington for a gathering of friends. We went to the top floor and could see firework shows from two to three areas.
With this Fourth of July coming up, I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday