Summer nights in a small town
I think by all accounts it was a pretty great summer in Union County.
The weather seemed to never get unbearably hot and we also never seemed to go through extended periods of rain.
And with good weather comes opportunities for outdoor activities.
The uptown restaurants with patio seating seemed to have had a prosperous summer, with full tables of patrons looking for good food and live music.
The City of Marysville has also fine tuned its slate of summer events. The Friday Night Uptown events draw solid crowds routinely.
My favorite offering though, is the city’s Movie in the Park events. There is something cozy about families spending a night in the park sprawled out on blankets.
Also, going a little farther back in the summer, I think the Fourth of July fireworks this year were the best I can remember. I know the popular past-time in this county is to completely put down anything offered locally, but I thought the show was very good.
I’ll admit, in years past the dead time between the fireworks could get pretty long, but this year I thought the show kept moving along. Also, a couple of times I thought a big group of bursts was the grand finale, only to be surprised when the show continued on.
It’s always hard to fairly judge any small down fireworks in central Ohio because Red, White and Boom creates an unreal expectations just a day earlier.
I also thought the Union County Fair’s choice of Luke Combs for its concert this year was a homerun. It’s really difficult to book up-and-coming musical talent and Combs was really taking off during the time he performed in July. All photos and videos I saw showed it to have been a well attended performance.
And then the capper to the summer is always the All Ohio Balloon Fest. With Clint Black and Night Ranger lined up to be the Thursday and Friday entertainment, everything was set for longtime country fans and old-school rockers to enjoy a local show.
Black’s concert went off without a hitch. He sounded great, the opening acts were good, and the crowd was engaged by not unruly.
And then Friday rolled around.
Two years ago, Night Ranger played for the best Friday night crowd ever – but the weather then was perfect.
This year saw a ridiculously long downpour that washed out the opening act and drenched the stage and equipment. Somehow, the clouds parted for a brief bit and the band made the decision to take the stage.
I figured there would be nothing in front of the stage but frogs, given the swamping rains. Amazingly enough a decent size crowd actually showed up, dried off their seats and enjoyed the show.
It’s a real shame the weather didn’t cooperate.
Saturday at the event saw record attendance, as the weather was perfect, though a bit windy for some of the balloonists. The highlight of Saturday was a change in policy which allowed attendees, big and small, to venture onto the airport runway to be right under the balloons for the evening glow.
It’s really hard to beat the summer nights in a small town.
-Chad Williamson is the managing editor of the Journal-Tribune.