Columns

Sports were not a favorite activity of mine—or even interesting to me—until college.

In high school (and even some college) I was a theatre nerd. I was, and still am, a huge fan of fine arts.

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There are so many times in my life that I’m glad I grew up the way I did, living in small town America, where everybody knows pretty much everybody.

Yes, at times, small town life can be a little tough on the privacy. This is because everybody pretty much knows everybody.

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RAMBLES

OK, so last year I wrote a column about the dreaded summer demon that is a june bug (shudder), and this week, you’re going to have to hear about them again, but in a different setting.

Instead of being at home on our porch, putting lights on Loetta’s bike, this time I was in Edgar, parked by the fire department awaiting the firework show (yay for fireworks!).

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Interestingly, this past weekend with lots of activities going on in Clay County, the heat decided to show up and challenge the crowds at both Dugout Days in Sutton and EdgarFest in Edgar.

But the one thing I rarely heard was much complaint; instead, I heard over and over, “I’m not complaining, I’ll take the heat over what we went through this past winter.”

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Remnants of old businesses line main street, most of which are accompanied by chipped front steps, closed off doors, and signs stating “CLOSED,” forever hanging in the front window.

More and more often this scene is viewed while driving through rural towns throughout Nebraska, but also throughout the midwest.

The phrase “Shop Local, Buy Local” isn’t one rural towns should take for granted.

Living less than an hour from Hastings and York, and about an hour from Grand Island and Lincoln, it’s easy to forget how important shopping local is.

Currently in Clay County there are three grocery stores—Harvard Food Mart, Corner Market (Edgar), and Brown’s Thrift Store (Sutton).

In early 2018, Clay Center’s grocery store closed; community members responded by creating a committee in hopes of bringing a store back to Clay Center. This has been an ongoing effort for the committee—and various other community members—for the last 16 months.

Even through it’s not quite summer in an official sense, the summer of 2019 has taken off like a rocket to the sky...fast.

We’ve seen all sorts of all-star athletic events, the chase is on for parents and grandparents alike, going to a baseball or softball game, nearly every night, at least when weather has permitted.

Many events have been canceled or altered with the weather patterns as of late, but here in a few weeks, what I call the really busy stretch hits in our business, with the season of community festivals and celebrations, along with the county fair just around the corner.

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