Summer schedule looks promising

 ARE WE REALLY turning the corner? Are we really winning the Covid-19 battle? 

I'd like to think so. Sheryl and I are both vaccinated. Cases are down in our county and we lead the state in percentage of people vaccinated. Cori and I (HartLyss) have shows scheduled, and so do the Cheeseburgers this summer.

Yet we need to be vigilant and not relax. We are still requiring masks in the store, washing our hands and trying to be socially distant. 

In Quincy there are summer events being scheduled, and it gives us hope. The first is our Gus Macker tournament Memorial Day Weekend. If it happens, it will be the first really major event in town since we shut down a year ago. I'm sure there will be precautions and attempts to be as safe as possible.

We have scheduled our noon shows in the First Mid-Illinois Bank Plaza at Seventh and Maine. We'll have live music the last Friday in April and the first three Fridays in May, weather permitting.

What is the new normal?

Q-Fest is scheduled for the last weekend in June. And just announced was the return of Blues In The District, on the second and fourth Fridays in June, July and August.

Blues will be a real bell-weather event for Quincy. You do have to wonder how safe it will be with several thousand people in Washington Park - will masks be required, and can you enforce that rule? Maybe, and no. Of course we have the best spot to watch and hang out on the sidewalk, something I've sorely missed the past year.

I'm all for being safe and not letting the guard down. But we do have to move forward and do our best to return to normal, whatever normal means.

At least it looks like normal is returning this summer, and we couldn't be more ready.