I don’t know what your Fourth of July traditions are, but up on Parmalee Hill Road, they arm everyone with mallets and cold beverages and then wait around for fireworks to erupt. The event, hosted annually by Justin Scott and Amber Edwards, ends with the presentation of the Parmalee Hill Silver Mallet Cup to the survivor.

Longtime champion Sydney Eddison is shown here giving up the cup this year to champion croquet player Tom Johnson. Undaunted by thunderstorms and heavy rain, Tom negotiated an unusually wet course with skills that left Ms Eddison gushing with admiration. Cup holder for as long as senior tournament spectators could remember, Ms Eddison conducted croquet master classes before and even during the event. Tom was heard to say, “I owe it all to Sydney.” The Silver Mallet is an invitational, international affair. Players this year came from as far away as New Haven.

Die-hard fan Kristen Angell spent her Fourth of July in a funk. Kristen routinely shows up at work here at The Bee in New York Yankees attire, but she was so humiliated by the Bombers’ 19-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians on the Fourth that she decided to forego all pinstripes on Wednesday. But when she went to the closet Wednesday morning, she found there wasn’t much in there that didn’t reference the Yankees in some way. After an exhaustive search, she found her Relay For Life T-shirt and headed off to work.

Brenda McKinley, C.H. Booth Library’s Systems Librarian, was the lucky winner of the Lighthouse Quilt Raffle. The queen-size bluework quilt was donated to the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library by the Sew Together Gals, chaired by Peg Jacques. The drawing took place at 4 pm on July 4 during the Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale. The Sew Together Gals produce one quilt per year and donate it to a local charity to be raffled off.

The Bee received an advance copy last week of the newest collection of Newtown oral histories compiled by Andrea Zimmermann, Dan Cruson, and Mary Maki. Newtown Remembered, More Stories is more than 350 pages of tales about our town told by people who left, or are in the process of leaving, their mark upon the community. The recollections of 30 individuals, including Marie and Clifford Walker, William Baxter, Hilda Grisbrook Ferris, and Corona Vivian Rockwell Williams are taken from memoirs, oral histories and interviews from The Newtown Bee. Other copies are currently being categorized, but I’m looking forward to catching up on Newtown’s history when five copies become available at the C.H. Booth Library for borrowing in about four to six weeks.

Will Mahoney scored a goal with his first Lace’em Again cleats collection community service project. More than 60 pair of cleats were donated at the June 17 Alumni Lacrosse Tournament at the Blue and Gold Stadium. Will and his mom, Maggie, cleaned and sized all of the cleats and brought them to the Bridgeport Youth Services Soccer Registration, where they were handed out, at no cost, to youngsters in need. Will plans to hold another Lace em’ Again collection in November, so don’t throw out those used, but not abused, soccer and football cleats.

Now that Edmond Town Hall’s new elevator is in working order, the town has been putting some finishing touches on the handicap accessibility project nearing completion on the north side of the building at 45 Main Street. Workers have installed several sets of black steel railings along walkways and staircases alongside the building. The granite staircases there have been polished to bring up their luster and make the stone’s granular texture more apparent. The new stonework coupled with the simulated bluestone sidewalks there sure dresses up the north side of the building.

Dogs won’t be prancing in the Newtown King & Queen Dog Contest this year (we’re waiting a few more years…) but many princely tails are wagging for attention at the Newtown Dog Pound. Lately our dog pound has been overflowing with friends who ask for nothing more than a puppy treat or a dog bone. They want only to keep you company at night when branches thump against a window in the storm and thunder and lightning leave you in the dark. One resident, a generous and obviously well-liked and influential woman at Nunnawauk Meadows, has asked her friends to send birthday gifts (a few dollars or more) to the Canine Advocates on her behalf. Virginia Jess is leading the advocates’ campaign for a new dog pound and admits she is overjoyed that one woman could help the fundraising effort so much. So what are you doing for your birthday? Why not throw the dog pound a bone?

After all this talk about dogs, I need a nap, but I’ll be back next week, so be sure to…

Read me again.