Macungie Borough offices are closed to the public. For information, call 610-966-2503.

Facilities at Macungie Memorial Park are open based on guidelines provided by the Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society. Pavilions, buildings and grounds are available for rent. COVID-19 guidelines will be followed. To check availability, contact macungiepark@gmail.com or 610-966-4289.

Grace Lutheran Church at 28 W. Main St. offers a livestream worship service 9 a.m. Sunday mornings.

Services can be found on the Grace YouTube channel www.youtube.com/c/GraceLutheranChurchMacungiePA.

For more information, go to https://gracemacungie.org or www.facebook.com/GraceMacungie.

Grace Lutheran Church offers its free community meal as a drive-up option. The next meal will be offered 4-5:30 p.m. April 9.

Grace Lutheran Church also offers its contactless monthly outdoor drive-up Grace Food Cupboard giveaway. The next dates are 2:30-4 p.m. April 27 and 30 when anyone can receive one bag with non-perishable food. Both events take place in the parking lot; signs will be posted.

Ancient Oaks will hold its annual garage sale 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 24. To reach Ancient Oaks, travel west on Hamilton Boulevard turn left onto Lower Macungie Road, turn right on Church Lane and turn left on Oak Drive. There is no rain date.

The Macungie Farmers Market opens for the season May 6 on Lumber Street, just off Main Street, Macungie. The market will be open 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday evenings throughout the summer. Vendors this year include Betula’s Botanica, Oley Ravioli, Deerfoot Winery, Five Saints Distillery, Chartier Farms, Fungified Mushroom Farm and Mala from the Heart.

The Great Macungie Cleanup will be held 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 17. Litter and trash pickup will take place along Mountain Stream through Macungie Memorial Park from Cotton Street to Lehigh Street as well as the downtown business area from the train station to Weis Market.

The Lower Lehigh Lions annual spring flea market will be held 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 8 at Macungie Memorial Park. If you have any questions, contact the Lions at lionsfleamarket@gmail.com.

Macungie Pool memberships are now being accepted. More information is available at www.MacungiePark.com.

Cash bingo is held weekly Saturday evenings at Macungie Memorial Park. Doors open 4:30 p.m. and games begin 6:30 p.m. Attendance is limited to 60 people; seating is spaced for social distancing. Masks are required. The kitchen is not open; coffee and drinks will be available for purchase. For more information, call 610-966-4289.

The next Macungie Park Board of Directors meeting is scheduled 7 p.m. April 27.

On March 17, we left Lydia stuck in sand on Bureau of Land Management land in California.

She called AAA for a tow truck recommendation. Unbeknownst to her, they gave her the name of a company two hours away. The tow company quoted her a rate of $250/hour, which came to $1,000 before they even extracted the car. When she told them she would be paying by credit card, they informed her that would be an extra 3 percent or she could get cash from an ATM. Of course, being stuck in sand precluded that option, At this point, Lydia had a meltdown and briefly considered taking the license plates and abandoning the car since the towing fee wouldn’t be much less than the value of the car.

Her boyfriend graciously took over trying to locate a closer towing company. The next phone call was met with a drawl, “Oh, I know where Painted Canyon Road is. I pull cars out there all the time. That will be $350.”

Heartened by the lower cost, they arranged to call him the next morning. They settled in to enjoy an evening of camping with their friends. Their campsite had spotty cell service but Lydia kept getting phone calls that she could not access.

Finally, she walked down the road for cell service and called the number back. The operator said it was a call center and asked if she had called 911. She said she hadn’t and hung up.

She kept getting calls from the same number and called back again. This time the operator said “I think we figured it out. Are you Lydia?”

The AAA operator had called 911 on Lydia’s behalf, thinking she might be in trouble. Lydia was a little embarrassed and said, “My car is still stuck, but it’s not an emergency. I’m with friends and we have supplies.”

Around the same time, an official vehicle was driving down the road. On its way back out, Lydia flagged it down and said, “I think you might be looking for me.” The officer took a look at her car and told her that her best bet was to find someone with a 4x4 that could pull her out.

When she woke up the next morning, she had a short-lived fantasy maybe the car had magically become unstuck. Reality re-established itself quickly. She looked down the road to see another vehicle stuck in the sand and watched as the driver of a 4x4 stopped to pull the car out. He drove past Lydia and stopped. He told her if she had a place to attach a tow hook to, he could pull her out. Within minutes she was unstuck and he had driven off before she could offer to pay him.

After she returned home from camping, she received one final call to make sure she was okay and concluded her story to us, “And now I’m on a first name basis with the California Highway Patrol.”

The copy deadline for the May 5 column will be April 29.