Well, apparently summer has wrapped up on North Vancouver Island.
You've just shipped your kids back off to school (was that cheering or wailing we heard from down the street?). This weekend, the many volunteers, entertainers, judges and vendors of the Mount Waddington Regional Fall Fair will take over Chilton Regional Arena in Port McNeill.
But lets be real.
It may be called the "Fall" Fair, but the calendar says we're still a couple of weeks from the first day of fall. And, frankly, the local fair is in reality of celebration of the recent summer. Those displays of vegetables, herbs, fruits, cut flowers and potted plants? All grown, harvested and displayed in summer.
Preserves? Canned salmon? Ditto.
Thanks to a first-time collaboration between the Fall Fair and the North Island Farmer's Market, these displays are not only for viewing — you can visit the Farmer's Market vendors outside the arena and purchase many of the home-grown foods and preserves and hand-made crafts to take home.
It's a great way to recognize, honour and relive the best days of a summer that, frankly, has been recognized among the best in recent memory on the often rainy and chilly North Island. July set heat and sun records, and August brought only enough rain to knock down a campfire ban, while still providing plenty of sun and warmth.
Yes, it's been a great season of growing, preserving, fishing, camping and travel.
With the kids in school and the gardens winding down, however, we all know a change of the seasons is in the offing. And, as Canadians, we know fully well the season next up on the calendar:
Hockey season, of course.