It's amazing. School is back in session already, and autumn is nearly upon us once again. It seems we only had a couple weeks of real summer this year, and now we're blasting toward fall. Autumn officially beings on Sept. 23 this year.
And if it's fall, that means football season is here. The Columbia High School Bruins football team has already opened its season -- on a losing note, unfortunately, after falling to Goldendale High School on Friday. But the season is still young, so here's to success over the rest of the 2010 campaign.
September also brings the return of the annual (47th annual, in fact) Huckleberry Festival. We always know it's nearly autumn when the happy, dancing huckleberry signs begin popping up around town. Bingen's annual celebration -- this year, it's Sept. 10-12 -- is always a good time. And it's not logical, but isn't it interesting that so often, the weather in the Columbia River Gorge during the Huckleberry Festival in September is more enjoyable than what we get for White Salmon's Spring Festival in late May.
Probably no one wants to contemplate this reality yet, and we hate to add stress to your day ... but the fact is, there are only 16 weeks left until Christmas! Time to start shopping.
And when you do, please shop with our local community merchants, and try to find goods made in the United States. With all the talk about our national unemployment rate, almost no one seems to be mentioning the primary cause of the lack of jobs -- and that is, almost all the products in the stores these days have a "Made in China" label, and that's just wrong. Buying Chinese goods might save you a few dollars up front, but too many of the Chinese products end up falling apart quickly due to shoddy workmanship or being recalled due to hazardous materials being used -- such as the high lead concentrations in some Chinese-made children's toys, or the drywall that is making people sick, for just a couple recent examples.
Please do yourself and our nation's workers a favor and buy American. Shop locally first, and encourage business owners to carry American goods. But if all else fails, one wonderful place to get "Made in U.S.A." goods is the madeinUSAforever.com Web site. Check it out, because those Christmas ads are coming.
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