Five years ago a new event was added to the summer schedule by the City of Great Bend and Christina Hayes. One last blast to say goodbye to summer. It was dubbed ‘Party in the Park.’
Here it is five years later and the event has been a huge success. The fifth annual event will take place Saturday in Veteran’s Memorial Park.
From the ever-popular Mud Volleyball to Dog Park Fun to Mega Kite Mania. There is an Inflatable Kids Zone, a Marshmallow eating contest, a Car Show and Vendors (including delicious shaved ice) all afternoon.
New this year is a wet/dry parade on the south side of Vet’s Park to start things at 10 am.
The days winds down with Fireworks and a Concert. Fun Stuff.
Like any outdoor activities, one can just cross their fingers and hope the weather cooperates for the festivities this year.

Prep Thoughts
Tick, tick, tick. It’s almost here. The official start of Fall Sports practices can be counted on one hand. One more weekend to go. Come Monday its time to lace up the cleats and sneakers. Does anyone call them sneakers anymore?

Referee House
It’s just about time to climb into the Jon Shaver’s Mystery Machine on Friday night’s and make sure kids play fair. As we head into the 2017 season, I will take this space to let the fans know about some rule changes they may or may not notice year.
One rule change I really like is the false start in the final two minutes of a half. In case you didn’t realize it, the clock would start on the ready for play whistle following a false start. This allows a team to run some extra time off the clock. If done right, the offense could run out a half.
For example, there are 40 seconds left in the half or game and its fourth down. The offense could wait until less than 25 remained and jump off sides. Following the penalty, when the referee blew his ready for play whistle, the offense would have another 25 seconds and the clock running before needing to snap the ball.
This year, that has changed. In the final two minutes, the opposing team now has the choice of whether to start the clock with the ready for play or at the snap.

Person of the Week
This week’s Person of the Week goes to Chris Smith. Chris puts a lot of time and effort into the American Legion baseball program. He does much of it behind this scenes. As the GM for Legion baseball in town, Chris makes sure things run smoothly for the both the Chiefs and the Braves.
This was a memorable season for both teams and while most of that success is due to the players and coaches as well as parents, Chris deserves at least some of the credit for his unwavering support and time he puts in.

And Finally
So I think there is something peculiar about my closet. Perhaps the heat from the summer or some kind of moisture mixing with the heat to make things like a steam room.
Something has to be the explanation for my clothes apparently shrinking.
You see, Crystal and I had a fun weekend of going through our closets and deciding what clothes to keep, which one to throw away and which ones to donate to the Salvation Army.
For some reason, as I weeded through my shirts that had been hanging up, several were much tighter on me than last I remember. One, this tells you it has been a while since I wore that shirt and two, there is some force of nature making my shirts shrink.
I guess this helped with the choosing aspect of which to keep. But, still, I need to have it checked out I think.
Speaking of clothes, am I the only one that has a Hall of Fame for old shirts? How can one really throw away a KU National Championship or Final Four shirts? A Wrigley Field shirt? The Purple People Eaters? I even have some of the old school Barton Track and Field shirts.
I don’t think my wife and daughter fully understand this. I did make Crystal happy when I put the Memphis shirt I got on our honeymoon in the Hall of Fame pile.
These are shirts that are meant to be framed and hung on the wall, right? Seriously, you can’t just throw them in the trash. I’ve had a 1988 KU title shirt framed and hanging in the basement for several years.
You see the basement is where I get to hang my stuff. It is where my Farrah Fawcett rug and other memorabilia are kept. One room removed from the cats litter boxes.

Mike Marzolf is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at MarzolfM@bartonccc.edu.