A Quick Opinion: Get ready for the Third of July

A Winters Express op-ed column By Charley Wallace Winters has been celebrating the Third of July for years now, mostly because fireworks are cheaper to set off on the Third than the Fourth. Perfect for this year as the Third is a Saturday. We skipped the celebration last year, but this year fireworks are back on the agenda. They will be set off when it gets dark at the High School, just like in past years, so find a seat early. What will be different this year is that the Rotary Club of Winters and Winters Fire Department Volunteers are planning a Sausage and Pancake Breakfast on the morning of the Third, at the Community Center. The breakfast will start at 7 a.m. and end before it gets too hot around 9:30 a.m. Tickets are $10 for children under 12 and $15 for adults. Children under 4 years old, or picky eaters, are free. Tickets are available at Pacific Ace Hardware in Winters. Profits will be split between the Winters Volunteer Fire Department and the Rotary Club of Winters. I was volunteered to cook the sausage, which is the most important part of any breakfast. The Putah Creek Café has ordered the same sausage that we use for the Youth Day Pancake Breakfast, so it should be worth your time and money. I’m not in charge of the rest of the meal, so you will see a different menu from the Youth Day breakfast. It has been a hard year for most of us, including businesses and non-profits. This will be the first fundraiser that I’ve attended in a while, and I have my fingers crossed that everyone is ready to get out of the house and help make this a success. There will be donation jar for the fireworks at the breakfast. I heard a great story this week about a staff get together that took place outside of work. People were staring at each other. Most had never seen what their co-workers look like without their mask on. Strange times we live in. There will be lots to celebrate this Fourth of July weekend. People may have complained about mask mandates and social restrictions, but they were temporary and made with the best scientific guesses available at the time. We have learned a lot from COVID-19 and I’m hoping that the new vaccine technology will translate into cures for cancers and other diseases. I’ll be out at the barbecue behind the Community Center on the Third, so if you want to burn a mask or two, feel free to join me. Have a good week.