We’ve all heard of the giant celebrations that go on every year in places like New York and Boston, but there are many smaller events that take place in small towns across the country.  Here are a few you may not have heard of:

In Bar Harbor, Maine, festivities always begin at the crack of dawn with a blueberry pancake breakfast put on by the local rotary club. However, things really get underway with the annual lobster races where lobsters sponsored by local businesses attempt to claw their way to victory.

If you don’t want to wait until morning, you don’t have to. In Gatlinburg, Tennessee they get started promptly at midnight with the nation’s first 4th of July parade. 

If you like tradition, you can take a trip to Bristol, Rhode Island, which holds the record for the oldest 4th of July celebration. They’ve been painting the town red, white and blue every year since 1785.

Why should humans have all the fun? In Federal Hill Park in Baltimore, MD they celebrate with a pet parade and an animal talent show instead of fire trucks and baton twirlers. 

Part of the fun of the 4th is the cookouts, right? Well, that’s doubly so in Coney Island, New York which features Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hotdog Eating Contest. Not to be outdone, the residents in the town of George, Washington, get together every 4th to produce the world’s largest cherry pie. 

Fireworks and food? Laboring lobsters or prima donna pets? How will you celebrate the 4th of July?

“It’s a nice day outside.  Why are you in here?”

You must have said it a thousand times, yet your kids are glued to their TV, video games and cell phones. Technology may be a part of modern life, but that doesn’t mean you have to let a perfectly good day go to waste. Here are some fun (and inexpensive) ways to unplug your kids this summer:

Geocaching.  Players use their GPS to follow a set of clues to ultimately find containers or ‘caches’ hidden by another player. Here’s your chance to be a 21^stcentury Indiana Jones.

Draw murals with sidewalk chalk.  It’s fun, creative and you get to enjoy beautiful art without all the mess since the next rain storm cleans your canvas for you.

Head to the local farmers’ market.  Can your kids tell the difference between a rutabaga and an acorn squash? Can you? Add something different to your dinner menu and have an adventure all in the same day— a win-win for everyone!

Visit an interactive museum.Museums used to be dusty and boring. No longer! With the new wave of interactive museums, you can get directly involved instead of just staring. Many town libraries offer free or reduced price passes to regional museums.

Glow in the dark bowling.  Simply take some empty water bottles, add glow sticks and you can turn your lawn into a bowling alley any time of night.

Lawn Scrabble.  All you need is some cardboard and markers to make a Scrabble board that spans the whole yard.

Make the most of summer with these fun activities or create your own games and some great memories.

Being a father isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, as dads, both real and syndicated, have found out through the years. It’s Father’s Day on June 19^th, and what better way to celebrate than to take a look at some of history’s famous, not-so-famous and downright infamous fathers. 

A.A. Milne.  While the author one of the most beloved children’s book series of all times did indeed write the ‘Winnie the Pooh’ stories for his son, he bristled at the thought of being considered a children’s author.

Dr. Benjamin Spock.  The man who was considered the foremost authority on how to raise children had a cool and distant relationship with his two sons, Mike and John.

George Washington.  Our first president, Washington is often called the ‘Father of Our Country.’ Ironically, though he was hardly chaste in his personal affairs, he never had any children of his own.

John Muir.  The man who many consider the forefather of the modern conservationist movement would often take his two daughters on long camping excursion into the wilderness.

Emperor Constantine.  Not every dad is father of the year material, and Emperor Constantine was no exception. He had his son and likely heir Crispus murdered and the boy’s mother killed two days later.

Charles Darwin.  When he wasn’t sailing to the Galapagos or working on The Origin of Species, the naturalist was spending time with his wife and 10 children, who later remembered him as a loving storyteller who took interest in their lives and encouraged their freedom.

Happy Father’s Day to all the great dads out there.

Think going outside to play is just for kids? Think again. It’s warm and sunny and the summer is full of great possibilities. Here are some fitness ideas the whole family can get into:

Spend a week at a national park or forest. You can hike, swim, mountain bike— the choices are endless. The family that plays together stays together, so they say. So why not take a family class? Most locations offer tons of classes to choose from, whether it be karate or swimming, skating or boating. NOTE: If you are over 62, disabled, in the military OR in the 4th grade, you can get a free or reduced pass for all National Parks and Federal Recreation areas here.

Even in the olden days, families needed something to do. Try to recreate the days of yore with old-time games like graces and hoop rolling. If you don’t want to invest in a premade kit, you can find everything you need to play for just a few dollars at your local hardware store. Or how about starting a family water battle? Part of the fun is choosing your weapons, and after that… let the games begin!

If the outdoors just isn’t your family’s thing, don’t give up hope. Instead, plan a mall scavenger hunt. Make a list of items, send everybody out to take a picture of their assigned item with their cell phones and then return to the starting point as quickly as possible.

Active vacations make for unforgettable memories and can help family’s bond. No one will remember that lunch at the beach, but they won’t forget the hike up the canyon or winning that epic water battle.

Happy summer!

Ahhh, doughnuts!  You don’t have to be Homer Simpson to appreciate all their sweet and tasty varieties. Whether enjoyed with a cup of coffee or just on their own, doughnuts are an indispensable part of breakfast for many people throughout the world.

If you didn’t know, June 5th is National Doughnut Day. That’s right — a full day to enjoy all that doughtnutty goodness!

It wasn’t all cream-filled sunshine and cinnamon-swirled delight when Doughnut Day got its start, though.

The event was set up by the Salvation Army in Chicago, and the first observance was in 1938 during the dark days of the Great Depression. It was intended to both feed the hungry and honor the ‘doughnut dollies', women who’d volunteered on the front lines of World War I to provide baked goods for the troops. 

With the help of the Red Cross, the ‘dollies’ went on to serve in the Second World War as well. To this day, National Doughnut Day is still a big fundraiser for the Salvation Army’s efforts.

That’s right, whether it’s a Boston Kreme or a chocolate éclair frosted with sprinkles, eating your doughnut is not only tasty, it’s also patriotic. 

Even better, National Doughnut Day isn’t the only day of the year you can celebrate your love of doughnuts. There’s also International Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day on June 8th, National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day on September 14 and even Buy a Doughnut Day, which occurs on October 30th.

If those days are too few and far between for you, here are some great recipes you can try at home.

The sun is shining and your boom box is cranking out some good tunes. The grill is sizzling, wafting the smell of cooking hamburgers and hotdogs through the neighborhood. Just toss in a few cold brews and you might as well be in a beer commercial. 

Good times.

The official start of summer is absolutely a time for fun, but it’s really not the reason why we’re given a three-day weekend to enjoy the sun. 

Memorial Day is instead a day for remembering those who died while serving in the country's Armed Forces. It began as Decoration Day in 1868, when an organization of Union veterans set it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. 

While observance of Memorial Day has fallen off over the years, there are still some large activities going on, including the National Memorial Day Parade, and the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Rally.

Set on Constitution Avenue in the nation’s capital, the parade draws over 250,000 people. Meanwhile Rolling Thunder tries to live up to its name as upwards of 90,000 motorcyclists descend on the city to honor POWs and MIAs.

If you’d prefer a quieter weekend, you can still observe Memorial Day by flying a flag at half mast, visiting a veterans’ cemetery to lay some flowers down or by wearing a red poppy.    

So enjoy your day— drink a brew or two, grill up some burgers or just enjoy the weather— but take a moment to remember those who gave their lives to make it possible.