From the requests we have received to include news items of upcoming events, we believe that there is a great deal of optimism about the upcoming summer season, providing, of course, that there is a summer about which there can be a season.

This year the Cooperstown Presbyterian Church annual Ice Cream Social will be held on Friday, July 4, as part of the community holiday celebration. It will be on the church lawn on Pioneer Street or, in case of rain, indoors. Hot dogs, macaroni salad, lemonade, ice cream and homemade cake are once again on the menu. Handmade items, plants, books and white elephant items will also be offered for sale. Games for children are also on hand. There will be musical interludes on the hammer dulcimer. Booths open at 5 p.m., hot dogs and macaroni salad will be served at 5:30 p.m., with the ice cream and cake available from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The ice cream social is coordinated by the church's Women's Fellowship who were recently honored by the church at a coffee hour for their donation of monies raised from their projects which include, in addition to the Ice Cream Social, an annual rummage sale in the fall. Monies donated to the local church have been used for the renovation of a new Sunday School/Nursery room, new bookcases, redecorating in the Church House, folding chairs and tables, refrigerators, as well as refurbishing brass candelabras and a silver tea service. The Fellowship's long-term goal is to raise funds to repair one of the sanctuary stained glass windows. Consequently, they would greatly appreciate your joining them at this year's Ice Cream Social. We hope will see you there at this annual event which herald the arrival of the summer season.

The Friends of the Village Library will once again this year sponsor a series of evening programs on Tuesdays during the month of July. On July 1, Nancy Tarr Wager will entertain with "Songs of Summer." Tarr is a singer, songwriter and Kindermusik educator. In additional to great music, there will be an ice cream social courtesy of Stewart's. On July 8, Skip West will present "I Like to Read." West will sing songs from his "Share Your Song," "Blue Sky City," and "All Around the World" CDs. On July 15, Mayor Carol Waller, Elementary School Principal Teresa Gorman, Physician Claire Beetlestone, and others will share their favorite stories for children. On July 22 , Storyteller Maria Johnson will present lively "World Folktales." And finally, on July 29, Cherry Valley author Anita Briggs will read her book "Hobart," the story of a pig with a dream. Don't miss these great programs for the whole family which are sponsored by the Friends of the Village Library. All programs will start at 7 p.m., and will be on the lawn of the Village Library building located at 22 Main Street. In case of rain, the programs will be held in the library itself.

We gather, from the various newspapers articles, that the Hall of Fame Game Weekend was a success. And we must admit, from our vantage point on Pioneer Street, that it was interesting. NYSEG chose game day as the very day to trim, and we do mean trim, the trees at the corner of Beaver and Pioneer Streets. It gave new meaning to the expression "timing is everything." And, from our perspective, the ingress and egress from our house was further complicated by the thoughtless individual who felt that parking his or her car partially across our driveway was acceptable. When we bemoaned the fact to our contacts in Ohio that we would have to face the driveway problem again later in the summer, we received two suggestions. The first suggestion was the strategic placement traffic cones, no doubt purchased from Cones 'R Us, on either side or the driveway. The second suggestion would require that we take a chair and a good book and park ourselves at the end of the driveway to keep the area clear. Quite frankly, having given both of these ideas some thought, we think we would prefer that all visitors to are area show the same respect for our community that the overwhelming majority of them do.

In closing, we seem to have encountered a most pleasant situation with this column that we do not recall ever having encountered before. Input from our readers has been so good that we find we now have to chose what goes in when. Obviously, items which are time sensitive take priority. Consequently, we have more "Why Cooperstown?" essays from the Literary Discussion Group meeting of last December. We have information from former Cooperstonian Bill Hermann on the location of the fairgrounds as well as some history on the fund raising efforts for what is now the Clara Welch Thanksgiving Home. Al O'Brien, Jim Rowley and Doug Preston have all weighted in on the dairies of Cooperstown. And we have a question regarding the Civilian Conservation Corp S-127 company 3205 camp which ran from June 1935 to October 1937 and included young men from Cooperstown, Hartwick, Oneonta, Herkimer and Utica. So, stay tuned. Details to follow. And keep those communications coming. As we have said so often in the past, this column works only because we are blessed with the participation of our readers.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

Where nature smiles,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326, by telephone at 607-547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.