Letter from the Editor

Painting of McGrath Pond by Jenny Allen, courtesy of the McGrath Pond & Salmon Lake Association Spring 2019 Newsletter.

Dear Readers,

The summer of 2019 is ending but not the memories. There was great swimming and boating, fishing and hiking, music and celebration. The sunsets were inspiring, the food was tempting, the activities fun. The summer of 2019 drew a lot of families to the region, a lot of happy visitors and vacationers, a lot of readers of Summertime who kept us busy distributing this unique seasonal newspaper.

Again this summer, Summertime highlighted weekly outings and events — simple, wholesome and family-oriented — that the region offers. We provided a variety of news and notes that readers can actually use as well as a listing of future events. Best of all Summertime's pages had great columns and for that we thank our columnists.

Our hats off to Pete Kallin ("Take It Outside"), who is an amazing participant in the Belgrades great outdoors — and usually takes a child along.

Martha Barkley applies the same amazing dedication to the region's libraries, books and author-related sites — all while keeping her Belgrades lifestyle of sunrises from her deck.

Thanks to Rod Johnson, ambassador of Belgrade history and the "luckiest boy," for his fascinating personal recollections.

Dick Greenan gets special kudos for his weekly dams report, yearly comparisons and scientific input. And also for all the great loon photos.

Dale Finseth deserves much credit for being our conservation spokesperson with messages of helpful reality about what is going on around us and what we can and should do.

Other can-do advice comes in the LakeSmart Column by Sabine Fontaine. Thanks, Sabine.

As always thanks is due our advertisers and our staff, who make Summertime possible, and our family unit, Ethan and Corey, who have survived many summers of deadlines and distribution and who weekly inquire what has been written and what is left to write.

What is left to write is a salute to Summertime's readers. We absolutely appreciate the many thank-yous, the admissions of collecting and hoarding and the frankness that summer in the Belgrades would not be complete without Summertime in the Belgrades.

Esther, Corey, Ethan
Michael, Gregor

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