Ned Luce

OK, wake up now my friends.

The weather is turning great and the fun things are starting to happen. The Rhody Festival weekend or Chautauqua Week or an event filled several days last week and captured the attention of the folks in Port Townsend and some other locals and some not so local.

You probably know there was a parade of one kind or another Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday along with a “Running of the Balls” sponsored by the Sunrise Rotary Club on the Monroe Street hill.

Chairs and markings of reserved personal viewing space started showing up on Lawrence on Monday before the parades were scheduled to start several days later. The next thing you know there will be a fee for reserving those viewing spots. Uh oh, there is a bad idea.

Memorial Day is this coming weekend and more than 300 U.S. flags will be going up in Chimacum, Port Hadlock, and Port Ludlow. East Jefferson Rotary solicits subscriptions from donors to get a flag(s) put up at their home, business, or a local park. The flags are put up on four holidays each year and the support from the donors always generates positive reviews for the celebratory look the project provides for the communities.

The net funds from this project are reserved for scholarships for local students. Almost $30,000 in scholarships this year have been earned by Maria Powell, Robyn Weaver, Connor Patterson, Anastazja Gossette, Natalie Lont, Viola Frank, and Eugenia Frank. Congratulations to each of them.

Memorial Day also inspires thoughts of thanks for the military service members who have given their lives for this country. Have a good weekend and remember what the celebration means.

Since I went to college in Indiana back in the ’60s, I confess a more than passing interest in the Indianapolis 500 race held on Memorial Day weekends. Frankly, if you spent any time in Indiana it was tough to avoid high school basketball and the Indy 500.

The race is this Sunday and this year the qualifying speed for the “pole sitter” in the race exceeds 234 miles per hour, noticeably quicker than the 150 mph of the ‘60s. I did go the race in 1967 and watched the legendary A.J. Foyt weave his way through the smoke to a win made even sweeter since I had a free ticket.

Since we have turned to automobile subjects, I note the 21st Rakers car show is coming up on June 17 at Memorial Field in Port Townsend. It draws a big crowd every year.

I like part of the description the Rakers provide of themselves on their website. “…for teenagers in Port Townsend and Chimacum growing up in the ’50s and early ’60s, hot rods were simply an expression of love: True love for wrenches, gear ratios and flathead V8s.”

Hey, that was true of those of us who grew up in Hudson, Ohio and small towns all over this country!

I know it is early but you can feel free to note the Rotary Car show in Port Ludlow on Sept. 30. I have made note that America’s Car Museum in Tacoma has an exhibit of “75 Years of Porsche,” an overview and perspective of Porsche’s past 75 years as an automobile manufacturer. I know there are a few of you out there with an interest. Maybe. Hey, I am.

Hudson, Ohio, where I grew up is but 20 miles from Cleveland where Jim Brown played football for the Browns from 1957 through 1965. He passed away last week and I confess that his success in football far exceeded mine in spite of the proximity of our playing fields and timing of our careers. Rest in peace, No. 32.    

Love a curmudgeon and drive safely.

(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive and Port Ludlow resident who is ready to wave the green flag for the start of summer. Gentlemen, start your engines! Contact Ned at ned@ptleader.com.)