Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Wednesday, 4/22


Oh no. NOW how am I gonna be a dork?

Before you say (and you know you want to) “Jim, you've NEVER had a problem being a dork” let me clarify that I reach perhaps peak dorkiness during an annual summer event in Marquette, an event that was cancelled for this year yesterday, joining Pridefest and the Hiawatha Music Festival on the scrapheap of Covid 19.

That event is “Art on the Rocks”.

Now, not only is Art on the Rocks one of the coolest things you'll ever attend (after all, how many outdoor art shows do they hold on the shores of Lake Superior?), but it's also an event that draws thousands of people to Marquette. That is why, for the past 25 or so years, I've spent the week leading up to the show doing my annual license plate count, seeing how many plates from different states I can find.

This year, though, no. The dorkiness will be dialed down a notch.

One of the things I get out of the plate count is a general, non-scientific account of how the economy's doing. Usually, the more states I see, the better the economy is doing. During the Great Recession, I only saw plates from 18 states; in 2015, I saw plates from 49 states. I was kind of wondering just how low the count would go this year; after all, it's been on a downward trend the past few years, and with the economy imploding I figured it might be lower than 18 this year.

But now, I'll never know.

So I guess I'll be mourning two things now. I'll be mourning the loss of Art on the Rocks, an event I've always looked forward to. And I'll also be mourning the loss of yet another chance to be a dork.

Because, as we all know, I SO rarely get the chance to do that.

8-)


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