EDITORIAL: Summer is on the way

The weather isn’t cooperating, with “June gloom�� having settled on the town, but summer is in the air and you can feel the excitement heating up.

Soon Laguna Beach will be transformed from a sleepy village to a buzzing beehive of activity “� at least that’s the hope.

Artists, merchants, restaurateurs and hoteliers are all holding their breath to see if visitors alight as usual in droves on the town. It’s more critical than ever to the city’s and community’s economic health.

The city’s half-cent sales tax to offset costs of the 2005 Bluebird Canyon landslide will end July 1, while city officials are expecting the big hand of the state to take away some $2 million to $4 million to balance its budget. While other cities in Southern California have already upped their local sales taxes to keep basic services intact, Laguna will be offering shoppers a better deal tax-wise.

It will be another “draw�� for the city as it seeks to maximize revenues in a difficult environment.

As usual, creative minds have come up with cool and inviting ideas to encourage as many folks as possible to “come on down�� and keep coming back.

The Laguna Beach Conference & Visitor’s Bureau and the “big three�� art festivals put their heads together and came up with an all-inclusive Passport to the Arts allowing visitors unlimited access to the Art-A-Fair (opening June 26); Sawdust (opening June 26) and Festival of Arts (opening July 5) this summer for a paltry $19 charge.

We can expect to see the new Passport mascot, a large tube of paint named “Peri,�� for his periwinkle blue coloring, out and about delighting visitors.

The Chamber of Commerce followed suit with a Third Thursday’s Promenade event on Forest Avenue that we expect will itself become a summer draw as the hotels fill up with guests seeking local entertainment.

Of course, summer will really be in full swing when the colorful trolleys start running, and we can expect that to happen within the next few weeks.

Let the summer games begin!