little blog on the prairie

It’s about time for the annual rite of summer, the television/radio/print media story about how bad business is in Campustown because the students have returned to wherever they came from.

Funny how some Campustown businesses are avoiding the whole issue by closing up shop until Move-In day. One, Insomnia Cookies — who caters who chemically altered students by delivering hot-out-of-the-oven treats at all hours of the night — isn’t really surprising. In fact, I might think they were crazy if they didn’t go on summer hiatus. But another, Chicago-based chain Bar Louie, is quite interesting. A sign on the door says they are closed for the summer, no word on a re-opening date. One would think that BL’s clientelle is a little more sophisticated — think grad students, many of whom don’t leave for the summer — and includes a good lunch crowd of University employees. Or maybe the real reason is that the service was so bad last summer that they didn’t want to one-up themselves this year. Whatever the reason, I have to wonder what that does to the balance sheet.

Anyway, I use this story as a prelude to wish everyone an early Happy 4th of July, as posting will be light-to-non-existent next week. If you show up at Memorial Stadium on Wednesday, you might have a hard time seeing those fireworks. Don’t strain the neck too bad.