EDITORIAL

Along the Chesapeake, Settle in For Summer Pleasures

Occasionally, we must kick away our soapbox and reflect on the joys of living along the Bay.

When you're a newspaper, you get certain licenses - like calling things what you want to call them. That's what we're doing in this issue of New Bay Times Weekly - pronouncing that no matter what the calendar says, summer is here.

Hear ye, hear ye: We herewith declare that summer begins now, with Memorial Day weekend.

This is not too weird because when you live along the Chesapeake, or just visit here a lot, it can be an endless summer with no fixed beginning, either. The only boundaries holding us back are in our minds, not on our calendars.

The Bay certainly does its part in affording opportunity. We can confirm to you after a fair amount of travel to allegedly special spots that few rival the Chesapeake Bay in any season.

But summer? We take the cake. (Crabcake, birthday cake, you name it.) Why's it so special here? Recreation, culture and just plain good people, to name just a few reasons.

In this issue, we devote our Cover Story to a "21-Gun Salute to Summer" which, as we decreed, officially begins this weekend. For us, the hardest part was winnowing a list of 100 great things that we at New Bay Times came up with. Among those left out: learn to sail (finally); discover hidden ice cream shops on sweltering nights; and first reading a Bay book, then following the author's trail.

Don't worry: In our salute to summer, there's plenty left to do, from bar-hopping in a boat to jumping in your car and taking a vacation lap around the Chesapeake. (We've tried it and it's a truly great thing to do.)

You can buy your own ship or learn about those that lie wrecked at the murky bottom of the Bay.

You can navigate Chesapeake backwaters or, if you're the sedentary sort, get crabby or get jazzed.

You're probably thinking that it may take you until October to get through all of the season's pleasures we suggest. That's okay.

We at New Bay Times are already planning to formally extend summer into October.

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VolumeVI Number 20
May 21-27, 1998
New Bay Times

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