It was very quiet at 6:30 in the morning.
Right as I passed the big mural, the arches and benches and new posters for the Festival 56 summer theater,there was the mayor, as usual, watering all the flower pots along Main Street.
Mr. Mayor asked me how the weekend went, with the lunch in the park on Friday, and the Chamber of Commerce golf outing to raise money for main street storefronts on Saturday. The silent auction went well. The Farmers Market Saturday morning did, too. And the lawn party that afternoon to raise money for the Homestead Festival this fall.
I had missed a couple of those events because I was at an exhibit opening at the North Central Illinois ARTworks gallery a few miles away.And I was visiting the Prairie Arts Center’s summer program for kids. Then there was the 26-mile bike ride Sunday to build a little fitness before the Princeton Bike Fest on Friday the 23rd and the Z Tour Bike Ride on Saturday, the 24th.And a stop at the new craft brewery and a couple new businesses and the Community Band Concert at Soldiers & Sailors monument on Sunday evening.
And then — hurray! — the next Friday, the first of this summer’s Down on Main Street concerts, and the old car show and beef and ag days with music, too.
Take a deep breath.
You know what’s so amazing about a small town like Princeton? Aside from watching the glorious 360 degrees of night sky and sunrises over the corn and soybean fields, there’s nothing to do here.
I’m Rick Brooks…and that’s my perspective.
