Summer

If you are part of a new program offering locally grown fruits and vegetables or locally raised meat, poultry and dairy products this summer, we'd like to hear from you. Send a note about your program, along with your contact information, to dmarder@phillynews.com .   - Dianna Marder  

School's out, and for students from John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls' High School, 19th and Wood Streets, that calls for whooping it up in Logan Square's Swann Fountain. The girls took their dip after school let out for the summer yesterday.

The first weekend of the summer of '90 was as good as it gets: a bright, sunny sky, a gentle breeze and (surprise) no rain. So, what do you do on a weekend like this? For hundreds at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park, yesterday was perfect for rocking to the reggae beat provided by several bands who performed in the city's annual Reggae Tribute Day. Or, like the pair below, you could just row, row, row your raft.

Things slow down a bit in the summer, but that doesn't mean small-business owners should flip the sign on the door to "closed" and head to the beach until Labor Day. Taking a few days off is a great idea, but the more relaxed summer months are also a good time for company owners to step back and look for ways to improve their businesses. If you don't own a seasonal business such as an ice cream or surf shop, here are a few things that can help you set up for a profitable end to the year.

For many years a map was tacked to the back wall of my classroom. Its colors had faded and its edges had lifted. Except for some indecipherable graffiti in the Indian Ocean, it had been forgotten - until a visiting Icelandic student challenged: "There's something wrong with this map!" Sure enough, just to the southeast of Greenland - where Iceland should be - there was nothing but water. So much for maps. Arni (pronounced "ought-knee") grew up in Saudarkrokur, Iceland (pop.

It's time for the 5th annual Readers' Summer Vacation Photo Contest. This is your opportunity to show where you went and what you did on vacation this summer season, May 26 through Labor Day, Sept. 3. We'll pay $25 each for 4 of the 5 best photos. The photographer of the winning photo, as selected by readers on philly.com/travel, will receive $100. We want to see sunrises and sunsets, water-skiers and zip-liners, mountain hikes and campsites, and of course maxing and relaxing.

A lawn is actually made of millions of individual grass plants, which, left unmowed, will grow a few feet tall. Most grasses are perennial, meaning they come back year after year. Uncut, the grass will bloom in late summer and spread seeds in the fall.

Millie Trivett found relief from July's heat wave by sleeping in front of a fan in the living room of her Baltimore Avenue home. The summer of '95 was the hottest on record in Philadelphia, claiming 88 lives in the city and its suburbs in a 25-day period. A break in the heat finally came on Aug. 5.

Along the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, people take advantage of the traditional treats of summer, enthusiastically eating ice cream and ices and downing cold drinks. Although the temperature at the resort peaked at 85 yesterday, a southerly wind kept conditions pleasant.

Payton Faries, 5, cools her feet in the water at Penn's Landing during the 13th annual Jam on the River. Tonight, blues singers Koko Taylor and Ruth Brown will be featured, along with the music of Buckwheat Zydeco to welcome summer to the city.

Question: We have an attic with a set of steps that pulls down from the ceiling. In the winter, we keep an insulated foam dome in the attic that covers the folded steps and the trap door that they are attached to. This helps to keep the heat in the house and to keep the cold air in the attic. My question is, should we leave the foam dome in place in the summer? My thoughts are that heat needs to escape and we should move the foam dome off of the folded steps and door. But then I'm concerned that the heat going up to the attic will also pull our air-conditioned air along with it. Answer: Warm air rises and cold air falls, but since your attic gets hot in the winter, you might want to have the dome in place to keep the warm air in the attic and not leaking into the space around the folding stairs where it might add to the efforts of the air-conditioning.

Wednesday Returning: "Royal Pains" and "Necessary Roughness," 9 and 10 p.m., USA. Thursday Returning: "Sullivan & Son," 10 p.m., TBS. Sunday Returning: "True Blood," 9 p.m., HBO; "Masterpiece: Inspector Lewis," WHYY12. June 19 Returning: "Futurama," 10 p.m., Comedy Central. June 23 Premiering: "Crossing Lines," 9 p.m., NBC10. William Fichtner ("Prison Break") stars as an ex-cop who joins an international team tracking a serial killer across Europe.

* The Package Tour, with New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men and 98 Degrees, Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St., 7:30 p.m. Saturday, $92.50-$20, 800-298-4200, comcastTIX.com. * The Rolling Stones with "surprise" guest, Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St. 8 p.m. Tuesday and June 21, $597-$67. 800-298-4200, comcastTIX.com. (Note: Watch for last-minute ticket availability at reduced cost, the concert promoters' new "dynamic pricing" strategy.) * One Direction, Wells Fargo Center, 3601 S. Broad St., 7:30 p.m. June 25, sold out, but tickets available from secondary market.

By Paul F. Bradley State and national lawmakers commenced summer sessions as baseball season hits its stride. As I take my seat with my fellow Americans in the legislative grandstands, I have a few proposals for their consideration. Leading off, eliminate the 10-run "mercy rule" from Little League games. Instead of producing entitled brats (future lawmakers and major leaguers) accustomed to easy wins and whitewashed losses, children who learn to finish what they start - win or lose - will play with dignity and humility on the diamond and in life.

Tuesday night might not seem like an ideal race time, but it has been for summer runners in South Jersey since 1993, thanks to the South Jersey Athletic Club, which puts on the No Frills, Just Thrills Summer Series at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken. The first race will be Tuesday at 7 p.m. "We thought it would be a good opportunity for younger people who aren't competing during the summer, and for more mature folks, to get a good hard workout or an actual race if they're looking for some kind of competition," said club secretary Ed Maher.

Oshunbumi Fernandez cannot remember a year without Odunde. Philadelphia's annual festival of African culture was founded by her mother, Lois Fernandez, in 1975. "I was strapped to my mother's back at the first Odunde," said Oshunbumi, better known as "Bumi," who has been the festival's chief executive officer since 2006. "Running Odunde, to me, is like breathing. " The Odunde festival - meaning "happy new year" in the Yoruba language of West Africa, predominantly Nigeria - will mark its 38th anniversary on Sunday by transforming a swath of South Philadelphia into a giant marketplace of Africana.

*  GRACELAND . 10 p.m. today, USA *  IN THE FLESH . 10 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday, BBC America   USA'S STILL the "blue skies" network, but sea and sun come at a price in its latest drama, "Graceland," which premieres tonight immediately after the final-season opener of "Burn Notice. " Loosely based on actual events involving a government-seized beachfront property used to house federal agents, "Graceland" stars Aaron Tveit ("Les Miserables") as Mike Warren, a rookie FBI agent who finds himself thrown into the deep end when he's assigned to live and work with undercover veteran Paul Briggs (Daniel Sunjata, "Rescue Me")

CHRISTINA Regusters, the Philadelphia woman charged with sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl after allegedly kidnapping her from her West Philly school in January, will be tried in August 2014. Common Pleas Judge Chris Wogan, in responding to a question from Regusters, said yesterday that the trial was scheduled so far in the future because he and Regusters' attorney, W. Fred. Harrison Jr., had such busy schedules. Regusters, 20, of Walton Avenue near 62nd Street, West Philadelphia, is being held in lieu of $4 million bail.

THE SUNDANCE hit "The Kings of Summer" is a drama about teen runaways, but don't look for their photos on milk cartons. Its about three boys (Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias) who run away, but not too far away. They're always within walking distance of a Burger King, in case living off the land proves too much of a chore, which of course it does - the movie makes a semi-joke about their contradictory teen yearnings for freedom and reassurance. Their summer away from home is like a ramshackle scout camp - clearing in the woods, makeshift clubhouse, junk food, basketball hoop.

EVEN a year later, former game-show host Marc Summers can't explain the manic excitement that exploded over three wild nights during Philly Beer Week 2012. It was the return of his 1980s children's game show, "Double Dare. " Only, in the spirit of the festive week, the live show was called "Dunkel Dare. " The contestants were brewers, and the trivia questions and physical challenges related to beer. The crowd lined up for hours and rollicked inside as Summers gulped suds and dropped the f-bomb.