July 19th, 2009
July 19th, midsummer in Door County-a time of lazy days and peaceful nights. And the nights have been peaceful, cool with no raucous thunder storms to wake us up in the middle of the night. This is the time of year we wish would go on forever.
Sometimes I roam the county just to observe. I see the little children playing on the beaches in Ephraim and Fish Creek, still with shovels and buckets of sand-not much changes through the generations at that age. Families spend afternoons playing mini-golf in Sister Bay and Egg Harbor in response to plaintive "What can we do today, Dad?" Peninsula State Park is full of campers-some actually "camping" in tents and others enjoying the park in comfort from their motor homes and camping trailers. The many other campgrounds throughout Door County are full as well. We've had little rain so no campers at the laundromat drying their sleeping bags. Happy campers!
One of the places I personally discovered this year is in Fish Creek, and it's called Hand's On Studio. Apparently everyone else knew about it but me, but now I've found it and think it's magical. It's a collection of old barns transformed into studios where anyone can go-children and adults-to participate in "art"-Hand's On. They have studios for pottery, for jewelry making, for metal-smithing, for working withglass in various forms, for ceramics-all quite casual, slow-paced, and relaxing. Adults become children and children discover their creativity. And all the while exotic varieties of chickens delightfully wander free and roosters crow with regularity. Quite an atmosphere!
Almost every evening there is a free concert to be found somewhere-at the parks in Egg Harbor or Sister Bay or Baileys Harbor. Laughter rings through the woods in the evenings from the nightly plays performed by the American Folklore Theater in Peninsula State Park. Old-fashioned sing-a-longs draw people to the Ephraim Village Hall and afterwards to Wilson's for ice cream.
And all leads to the end of the day and a wonderful midsummer's night dream.
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