The long days of summer are upon us, with seemingly endless hours of daylight to be enjoyed. In fact, at least on weekends, you might as well call them the long, lazy days of summer.

Locally, there will be plenty of things to do on those summer weekends.

This weekend is loaded with things to do. The Badger Lake Dragon Boat Bash is Friday and Saturday. The Blanden Art Festival and the Oakland Cemetery Walk are both on Saturday. Plus, the Calhoun County community of Knoke will celebrate its 125th anniversary on Saturday.

Lehigh River Days will be back from June 19 to June 21. It will include some traditional staples of years past, such as the log rolling contest. That consists of people standing on a log in a four foot deep pool of water and trying to keep the log spinning without falling off. It will include live music, mud volleyball, kids games and a parade.

But wait, there’s more as the old saying goes, because that is just the beginning of the summer’s special events. Coming up on June 26-28 is Manson Greater Crater Days. Many other local communities will be having festivals, which for some of the smaller towns will be the biggest event of the year.

And before too long, county fairs, that mainstay of life in rural Iowa, will be starting.

We encourage everyone to get out and enjoy the various special events, festivals and fairs that will be held throughout the Fort Dodge region this summer.