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The Iowa Photo: Summer nights

Solon Beef Days offers quintessential glimpse of the season

Community members wait in line for rides during the annual Solon Beef Days festival in Solon, Iowa on Friday, July 19, 2024.(Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)
Community members wait in line for rides July 19 during Solon Beef Days in Solon. The annual festival features carnival rides, live music and food vendors in addition to events such as a hay bale toss and parade. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette)

When I think of summer in small-town Iowa, I think of county fairs and street festivals such as the annual Solon Beef Days. To me, this photo taken earlier this month at Beef Days captures that feeling of small-town America in the summer. The blur of the rides’ lights (emphasized with a slow shutter speed) and the silhouettes of those standing in line help to capture the scene in a way that reminds me of my own childhood, specifically the iconic Fourth of July sequence from the 1993 movie “The Sandlot.”

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