I love the 4th of July, although sometimes, I wish we could have the 4th off. But that's not the way it works when you have a job at a small-town paper where Independence Day is the big town celebration, so off Carole and I go every year to get photographs, eat pancakes, check out activities in the park, talk to folks who have come back to visit, then watch some fireworks.

Our 4th fills downtown, but we also seem to have been able to avoid the excesses that beset Silverton this year, where partying teenagers apparently drank too much, then trashed their campsites near town. That's probably an advantage of geography - our campsites in the San Juan National Forest are pretty far away from downtown.

While the 4th is fun for most of us, I'd like to recognize that it takes a huge amount of work from a lot of people to pull it off.

It's all hands on deck at the Bayfield Lions Club to serve 660 pancake breakfasts.

Bayfield town staff and deputies certainly have their hands full.

Pine River Rotary serves a lot of beer in the park and provides a spot for us to sit down and eat.

Bayfield Family Center staff and volunteers organized another great 5K.

The Serrano family throws a great horseshoe tournament, and this year's volleyball tournament was organized by Bayfield High players.

I know I'm missing some folks and groups, and I apologize, but I hope you'll recognize some of these volunteers the next time you see them at the gas station or grocery store.

Ignacio's turn will come in three more weeks as they host their annual San Ignacio Fiesta on July 30 and 31.

The fun thing about the Fiesta parade is that it's pretty impromptu - you just show up and line up and off you go!

And my kids loved all of the candy when they were little. There's tons of it thrown from every float.

It's also the time that many folks come back to Ignacio for reunions, so it's fun to see old friends.

Happy 4th, and we hope this year's Fiesta is another hit, as well.

. . .

On a sidenote, I need to apologize to a gal who called the office wanting to know if we had run something in the Times. I snapped, "yes we had, and it's in this week's paper."

In my defense, if someone requests an item to run in the paper, I think it would be nice if he or she would take the time to READ the newspaper before calling. It's also online, and many of our articles go on our Facebook page, so there are lots of opportunities to read about what's going on in your local community.

That being said, thank you to the many folks who do read your local newspaper.

Carole and I work hard on it every week, along with our indefatigable sports reporter, Joel Priest, so we do appreciate it when people take the time to read it.

I also firmly believe that knowing what's going on in your community is a positive thing. It's a radical concept these days, but it's true!

Thanks for reading.