Reminder: real estate taxes are due Aug. 1, which is Thursday. The income should help pay for the park in front of Town Hall. It appears to be done. I have seen people sitting on the granite and in the grass.

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Garden report: the lisianthus and phlox have bloomed. I have been eating beans, cucumbers, radish and sun gold tomatoes from the garden. I harvested my first regular tomato and ate it. What a treat.

Another treat but not from my garden — my first fresh local peach from the UMass Cold Spring Orchard. It’s been two years since I have had a real local peach. Why I say real — the juice doesn’t run down your chin from a supermarket peach when you take that first bite.

The other major local treat is corn. It has been at farm stands for a few weeks now. I have had some from various farmers and they were all good.

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The Amherst Community Band, directed by Tim Anderson, will perform “A Evening of Dance” Saturday, July 27 at 6:30 p.m., at Sweetser Park. Bring blanket or chairs. It’s free but donations are always welcome.

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Concerts at 7 will be held every Monday night in August at the Plainfield Congregational Church, Route 116, according to an email from Rebecca Mlynarczyk. First up Aug. 5 is bassist Avery Sharpe. The concerts are free but donations are welcome. Visit www.plainfieldconcertsat7.org for program details. The Springfield Chamber Players and tenor William Hite from UMass are also scheduled.

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If there were any way people from the beyond could participate in town affairs, I would nominate the late Larry Kelley to serve on the committee looking at the financing of Cherry Hill Golf Course. Just about every Town Meeting he would note it was losing money, revenue never met expenditures. He would have a lot to say.

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