Last Wednesday, we celebrated the first day of summer! Summer has always been my favorite season. I love the warmth, the activity, and the lushness of everything being green, it makes me feel good. The draw of outdoor activities and the fun connections we make. Our little town has a way of making summer so much fun. Our local library keeps a full schedule. Right now, there is a big foot hunt happening every week. It is amazingly cute, and the kids have been keen to go explore. Our library and the wonderful people who work there are doing a great job keeping us in book clubs and summer reading programs. They do great things.
Another piece of our town that I don’t think gets nearly enough credit is our local public pool. This is a staple summer activity for the town. Kids will spend all day out and being active. My kids live for the pickle juice popsicles from the concession stand.
Our lumberyard sells the bait that people use when they fish off the bridge or at the river that runs under it. The hardware store has a walk-up ice cream window that is a great way to cool off on the way to the pool. The Farm is always a place to stop in to meet friends for coffee and treats. The basement has indoor activities if it’s too hot to go out.
Earlier this week, I was talking with a friend about the usual aspects of life, Kids, life after covid, and the challenges of the state of things now, and she mentioned how there aren’t many spaces left like our town. She called our town a little Mayberry, and in many ways, she’s right. There aren’t many spaces left like the one we live in. I miss an abundance of things about bigger cities and firmly believe we need to keep participating and growing in ways to keep this town alive. We need reasons for people to come and visit. We need reasons for people to want to live here. There is a balance between keeping the best parts of what has been alive and changing with the world to have a vibrant place to incorporate those things into.
-Karen