Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Summer means local restaurants/bars take advantage of the late evening light and offer snacks, music and art on the first Friday of the month.

Last Friday, June 2, Salto served its popular tacos while Doug Armitage, of Brightwood Music, and Miles Ridnell played a variety of styles and genres, with Armitage picking up a twang or a croon as needed.

People strolled onto the patio and sat around the fire as the sun lowered in the sky. Inside, Michelle Theall’s photography was spread throughout the dining room, dramatic portraits of mustangs, stunning rainbows over western barns, all a testimony to the landscapes and residents of the northwest.

A new art show will be hung on the first Friday of every month, a perfect opportunity for artists to get their work out there to be seen, while both locals and visitors enjoy a mountain sunset in a relaxed, friendly setting.

It is just the beginning of summer when Nederland is at its most beautiful, the gardens heading towards their ultimate grandeur, the grass a gorgeous lush green before the sun begins to suck the moisture out of it, and the creek rushing through town.

The next First Friday will be on August 4, 2017.

(Originally published in the June 8, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)