July eNewsletter

Welcome to our July eNewsletter!

This eNewsletter features Hopenhagen’s Lavender Festival!

What a fun packed month July is! So many festivals and events happening – including the Hopenhagen Lavender Festival July 10th, Riverfest July 31st, and more! Hopenhagen is having their annual Lavender Festival on July 10th – join them for craft and food vendors, live music, you cut lavender and more!

Download the eNewsletter here!

Here’s a few excerpts from this month’s eNewsletter:

Letter from the Executive Director

Happy July folks!

Growing up during the summer in Lewis County meant many things. The following are my highlights:

• Hanging out under the bridge in Castorland looking for crayfish or salamanders. One year I found three kittens someone had dumped there. I put them in a box, drove them home on my bike’s handlebars and begged my dog-loving father to keep all of them. We compromised and kept one.
• Other days it meant that I would be working on summer homework at the picnic table that my mom said I needed to not “forget” what I had learned at school the previous year. I know now that it was just her way of getting us to sit down and give her a rest and realize that she was a genius.
• Walking all the way up the “hill” to go to the gas station to get a popsicle on a hot day only to be hotter than when we started when we got back home.
• Rollerblading down that same hill and hoping that I would be able to jump the train tracks at the bottom without breaking every bone in my body.
• During the hottest days, it meant that after dark I could sit outside and watch for the heat lightning, praying for a huge thunderstorm to break up the heat. There was nothing better than the smell that was produced once the cool rain started hitting the hot roads and dusty yards. You could physically feel the temperature dropping giving us relief from the day. I remember my dad waking us up on really hot nights to watch the light show even though we had been asleep for hours.

It occurs to me, looking back, that at some point I stopped enjoying those little things. Things that were so simple and, besides the homework, enjoyable. I didn’t know at the time that not every person had the opportunity to grow up in a place like this and I wish that I had not taken it for granted.

As adults, I think we can all get caught up in the rush and frenzy that happen in our daily lives. I’m going to take a moment to challenge all of you to think back on your best outdoor summer memories and try them again this summer. By yourself or with your kids, family or friends, see what types of things you can recreate or make new memories with all of the new things that are here and SHARE them with us! Our motto for many years for visitors has been “Our Backyard, Your Adventure” but we can have those adventures too!

New Members in July

Monthly Giveaway!

This months giveaway is for National Ice Cream Month – win a $10 Gift Card to Good Ol’ Wishy’s and 1 item from the ADK Tug Hill Shop

In order to enter the giveaway comment on our Facebook or Instagram post with what your favorite ice cream flavor is! Or just tell us your favorite thing about Good Ol’ Wishy’s!

The winner will randomly selected on July 15th!