Summer doesn’t officially begin until next week, but the activities in our area are already in full swing. Work on the Saturday, July 3, and Sunday, July 4, festivities is going well. A new item this year is the July 3 spaghetti dinner sponsored by the Les Cheneaux Snowmobile Club. If you’ve never seen a trail groomer up close, this will be your opportunity. The DeTour Chamber of Commerce still has space in the pavilion for crafters, vendors, and organizations that would like to set up a table during the Fourth of July activities. Call me at the above number to make arrangements or for more information.

There are still a few small parts available for the EUP Fine Arts Council’s summer production of the musical “Give My Regards To Broadway.” To complete the cast, director David Rhinard needs three men and three women. He stressed that this is a much less time consuming play than last summer’s production of “Chicago,” and the parts are not large. Performance dates are Thursday, August 12, through Sunday, August 15, in DeTour and the following weekend in Sault Ste Marie. Persons interested should call Mr. Rhinard at 297-5608.

One of the first activities of summer is the annual Community Choir concert Tuesday, June 22, at 7 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Church in DeTour, and Thursday, June 24, at 7:15 p.m. at the Lutheran Church on Drummond Island.

If you miss both of the concerts, you may have an opportunity to hear some of the songs at the annual Fine Arts Festival on Ontario Street Saturday, June 26. The plans for the festival are going well, according to chairperson and organizer Nancy Mordecai.

DeTour doesn’t have a devastating home fire often, but when we do, the Homemakers step up to help the family. There will be an opportunity to help Heidi and Ed Vought, who lost almost everything in a home fire two weeks ago. The Homemakers are hosting a fire shower Friday, June 25, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at DeTour Village Hall. Most of us know Heidi from her work in the school lunch program and many other events. Heidi has always been willing to lend a hand for worthy causes.

The DeTour Friends of the Library summer reading programs for area youth begins July 13, and continues each Tuesday through August 10. The theme this year will be “Make A Splash.” Watch this column and area posters for additional information on times.

Friends of the Library will host a fish fry fundraiser Wednesday, June 30, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the multipurpose room at the school. Tom Parling has agreed to donate the fish for the event. The dinner will be followed by an “Oral History of DeTour” roundtable presentation featuring 12 lifelong residents of DeTour Village reminiscing about their youth in the area. The program will be taped and copies of the presentation will be available at the DeTour Passage Historical Museum. Cornelia Miller is chairing the event, with Don Stefanski taping and David Rhinard assisting with the speaker system.

Now that ground has been broken for the new Habitat for Humanity home at 1795 South Caribou Lake Road, volunteers are needed. The group needs host site coordinators who will arrange for the morning prayer and register the workers for the day’s activity at the site, site food coordinators to arrange for light lunches such as sandwiches and/or soup to be delivered to the workers on site at noon, and finally the volunteer workers who will perform actual building chores for a full or half day. If you can assist with any of these chores, call habitat volunteer coordinators Leslie and Dave Henderson at 297-2228. For more information on the habitat program and other ways you can assist, call Bill Mordecai, Lower St. Marys Chapter president, at 297-5021.