Happy August, everyone! Sadly, for those of us who enjoy warm days and long evenings, the countdown begins to the end of another summer that seems to be going by far too quickly.

“Thank you for your interest in the borough of Northampton’s Hometown Hero banner program. I am very excited about this project as it honors the many Northampton-area military servicemen and servicewomen who have selflessly served our country.”

Those two sentences were the opening lines of the introductory letter to my Northampton Hometown Heroes project that began last September. As optimistic as I was about the future success of the program, little did I know that it would far surpass everyone’s expectations, to the level of 329 banners and counting.

According to the manufacturer, the borough of Northampton has purchased the most banners of any borough in the state of Pennsylvania. Wow! What an incredible testimony to our town’s patriotism and the love of our servicemen and servicewomen.

That said, I find it will shortly be time to bring this project to a close for now. Therefore, Aug. 18 will be the last day we will be accepting applications for banners. Applications are available at borough hall. Please, especially to all of the procrastinators, you have until Aug. 18 to join us in memorializing your loved one in this heartwarming and historic project.

Though the timeline for ordering your banner is ending, this project is far from over. I have extensive plans in motion to continue recognizing the service of our veterans, police and firefighters. The plan is to construct a site where the banner locations will be cataloged, along with some additional background information on banner honorees. Stay tuned for more information about this phase in my September posting.

Now, to a less exciting, but important, item that seems to be plaguing the borough - weeds. Yes, given our back-and-forth weather pattern of rain, then sunshine, then rain, then more sunshine this summer, we are witnessing a world-class proliferation of weeds throughout the borough.

I agree they are tough to keep up with and show up where you least expect. Still, we do have ordinances requiring homeowners to keep the weeds on their property, up to the end of the curb, under control. Additionally, any assistance in cleaning out the weeds in the street gutters would be greatly appreciated by our street crews.

I know our borough code officers have been out and about alerting homeowners to cut down and better manage the overgrowth, to the point of citing homeowners for continued noncompliance. While I don’t want to see you cited, I do also agree weed-free, well-maintained, manicured lawns and landscapes are necessary for a higher quality of life and beautification of our town. Let’s work together on this, folks! Thank you.

Lastly, congratulations and thank you to the Northampton Exchange Club for its success in sponsoring the 43rd annual Northampton Community Days Fair. From my opening proclamation to the spectacular fireworks on the closing night, Community Days gave us yet another memorable, community-oriented event, continually bringing friends and families together for some summertime fun, food and entertainment. Great job, Exchange Club!

For now, enjoy these warm days while we still have them, and do be kind to each other. Take care, my friends.