AROUND THE

AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Make your own Fourth of July fun this year

BECCA SCHMIDT BALDWIN PARK LIFESTYLE DIRECTOR

Lifestyle Director Becca Schmidt has lived in Baldwin Park since 2005 and has the pulse on neighborhood social gatherings. Check out the Groups and Gatherings section of baldwinpark.net for a list of Baldwin Parkbased groups. Contact Becca at lifestyledirector@baldwinparkpoa. com if you’d like to start a new group or have questions about how you can meet your neighbors. J uly is all about fireworks, little American flags, patriotic clothing, hot dogs, blue popsicles, small-town parades, little kids in little red wagons, large family reunions and massive group gatherings … Oh, but wait — this is July 2020!

Let’s re-think this holiday. How can Baldwin Parkers make the most of the Fourth of July within the stay-athome guidelines?

Start with decorating the porch! You can do a lot with plants and pillows! Palmer’s Garden and Goods on Corrine Drive had some great tips for patriotic plants. Start with the pot, owner Alison Palmer says. Choose a couple of big blue pots and fill them with red-and-white annuals like gardenias, verbenias, daisies and zinnias, white pentas, lantanas, fire bush and red salvia. Blue flowers in the summer are pretty hard to come by!

n Go to the garden center and see what appeals to you. Try to choose plants that can withstand intense July heat. Add red-andblue porch pillows. Spray paint your bird feeder or lantern a patriotic red, white or blue. Hang huge blue stars from your porch ceiling and remember to replace your American flag if it is tattered or worn.

n Want a parade? How about dressing up those toddlers in their patriotic petticoats and suspenders, seat them in their little red wagon and take them on a walk

through the neighborhood! Don’t forget about a patriotic bandana for the dog!

n Make blue popsicles by mashing four cups of blueberries and blending them with four cups of Greek yogurt and one banana with a little bit of honey. Place the mix into popsicle molds and freeze. To make a red, white and blue popsicle, layer vanilla yogurt or vanilla yogurt and ripe bananas — the white layer — with the blueberry mixture and a third layer of mashed strawberries — add strawberry jam for sweetness — and yogurt. Yum!

n And, what about the infamous flag cake? Try a healthier version of this cake by using a white cake recipe with reduced sugar, skim milk or almond milk. Top the cake with heavy Greek yogurt, whole organic blueberries and sliced strawberries (no added sugar).

n No party is complete without a good playlist: Try “God Bless the USA” (Lee Greenwood), “Ragged Old Flag” (Johnny Cash), “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” (Toby Keith), “Born in the USA” (Bruce Springsteen), “Travelin’ Soldier” (Dixie Chicks), “American Pie” (Don McClean), “Living in America” (James Brown), “America” (Simon and Garfunkel), and a few old favorites: “Take Me Home Country Roads” (John Denver), “American Girl” (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), and “This Land is Your Land” (Woody Guthrie).

If your neighbors are friendly (of course they are!) fire up the grill and share hot dogs, veggie burgers, potato salad, baked beans and a few cans of Pabst Milwaukee Red White & Blue Vintage American Session Lager.

n And fireworks ... I’ll leave to you to make your own kind of sparks!

n Borrow some family fun! The first three residents to reach out to me at lifestyledirector@ baldwinparkpoa can use our giant Jenga game, a corn hole game or ladderball set. I’ll also bring you a six pack of soda and potato chips to last a month! Put the veggie burger on the grill for me!