With the 41st annual Northampton Community Days fair well underway at Municipal Park, Smith Lane and Laubach Avenue, I’m naturally adding this great event to the list of all the wonderful, family-oriented, summertime activities available around Northampton.

If you have yet to visit Community Days, treat yourself and your family, as it’s truly one of the summertime highlights here in town. With plenty of amusement rides, concerts, food vendors and other great attractions, it’s a must-do event. Your sponsor, Northampton Exchange Club, manages to outdo themselves every year in hosting this family fun-time event, providing quality entertainment throughout.

The fair runs through July 9, topped off by the spectacular fireworks display, planned for around 10:15 p.m.

We’re also blessed to have a valuable asset in our municipal swimming pool. I can’t thank the selfless staff of lifeguards and management enough in keeping things safe and peaceful for those visiting. While many municipalities across the Lehigh Valley aren’t even opening their pools, we continue to provide a nice, cool respite for our patrons on what’s been a hot and oppressively muggy summer so far.

I want to wholeheartedly acknowledge the huge role our public works crews have been playing in our summertime successes. They’ve been hustling to keep all of our borough playgrounds and parks neat, clean and in the best shape possible, despite the many unforeseen diversions in their work schedule.

I think you’ll agree that for a borough our size, we have a very beautiful and expansive park system throughout town. Keeping all of that grass neatly mowed and all our parks as attractive as possible is no small task. Thank you, public works!

If you’ve been down to Canal Street Park lately, you’ll see the new pickleball court is nearing completion. For those of you who aren’t familiar with pickleball, the game combines elements of several other racket sports. The court is similar to badminton, a net similar to tennis and the paddles similar to those in table tennis.

It’s a fast-growing sport, especially among seniors, providing a low-impact yet competitive exercise regime. As the sport grows, I know we’ll look to add more courts across town.

You certainly know of my appreciation and love for the D&L Trail and the Nor-Bath Trail. Whether you are a walker, jogger, cyclist or a combination of all three, the trails are there for you to enjoy.

I’ve been diligently working with the D&L management to make our portion of the 165-mile trail as attractive and welcoming as possible, along with the added beauty of the Nor-Bath Trail. Their response and contributions have been overwhelming, to say the least. They are my new best friends!

We do have the latest trail guides available at our borough office on Laubach Avenue and with our bike patrol officers out and about in town. Just stop them and ask for one. You’ll be glad you did.

So now you have a pretty comprehensive look at what your borough has to offer for your summertime enjoyment. While we don’t always have all you want, we certainly do have all you need.

See you in our great outdoors!