July is almost history for 2009.

The Mower County Fair is right around the corner. Local stores are offering back-to-school specials already, with the Halloween stuff surely on deck.

For today’s column, I thought I’d offer a mid-season report of my first summer as a Minnesota resident.

It all started in Pine Island at the Cheese Fest. I took in Johnny Holm’s band at the street dance and quickly realized how much musical talent the Midwest has.

I followed that up with trips to Sunflower Daze in Dexter, Grand Meadow Fest and Rose Creek’s Fun Days, although I sadly missed the Hair Ball concert.

On July 4, I was able to spend the weekend with college friends in Indiana.

Now all in our 30s, we’re realizing that life does move pretty fast, that our college days are long gone and that staying up until 4 a.m. without a care in the world, has been replaced by going to bed by 10 p.m. and worrying about retirement.

This past weekend the place to be was Hayfield.

The annual Hey Days celebration kicked off Friday, and I went down to take a look.

I arrived just as the carnival was opening, just as the vendors were preparing their cheese curds and corn dogs and just as the carnival crew was waiting for customers to play games like Hoopville Smack Down.

I was also surprised to see a game where the prize was a goldfish. I thought those games had become extinct, going the way of cake walks. I won a few goldfish as a kid at various carnivals and fairs. Sadly, my cotton candy, which I would eat pretty quickly after purchasing it, usually lasted longer than the goldfish.

I met Brandon Talley at Hey Days. He lives in Austin and spends his summers as the foreman for Rob’s Famous Fair Food.

Talley goes to countless festivals over the summer and sells everything from smoothies to cheesecake on a stick.

At Hey Days, Rob’s Famous Fair Food was selling the Midwest staple of mini donuts, along with funnel cakes.

Making a funnel cake, I learned, can be tricky.

“The main thing is you have to watch out for the weather,” Talley said. “If it’s cold, your funnel cake mix will be thick, and when it’s hot, it gets more watery.”

Talley said the perfect weather is when it’s between 70 to 75 degrees outside.

And Talley stands by his product, even though he said he rarely eats it.

“I don’t eat them hardly,” he said as the sounds of Pink Floyd fill the carnival area.

“I’m one of those, ‘if I make it, I’m not that into it.’ But they’re still good.”

Hey Days enthusiasts had their choice of funnel cake topping — apple, cherry, chocolate and the secret, non-advertised cinnamon and sugar — the same kind that tops the mini donuts.

Well, that does it from Hey Days. We’re now another summer celebration down and another week closer to the Halloween candy.