Couple of weeks ago, wind and snow were howling through town and cars were sliding off the freeway left and right.

But now? Well, now it’s May, and the first triple-digit temperatures of the year will probably be hitting any day.

Welcome to springtime in Central Washington.

And, whether you see the pandemic as a dark health crisis or a socialist plot to subjugate the masses, welcome to the first full-on season of live entertainment in more than two years. We’re ready for some fun.

Feel free to keep your mask on, but we’d recommend you keep your ears open. Because believe it or not, it sounds like local music events and venues are getting back to normal again.

Same with some of our other favorite out-in-public activities.

While our annual entertainment-themed issue is by no means a comprehensive guide, we’re hoping to whet your appetite as we anticipate life getting back to as normal as it gets around here:

• Christine Corbett Conklin spoke with the folks who host some of the Valley’s favorite kinds of events and found they’re as excited as the rest of us for what’s coming up. She also found that during the shutdowns, many of them were busy upgrading, adding on and otherwise improving their venues. We think you’ll like what they’ve done with their places.

• Lance Reese, meantime, poked around Prosser and wound up at Brewminatti’s, which serves more than just coffee, beer and great food. He took in a show by a band that uses some unexpected instrumentation to produce the sincere sounds of the Mississippi hill country.

• And our local history expert, Ellen Allmendinger, did a little research and discovered that Yakima used to be a favorite stop-off for traveling circuses. And for a while, it even had a couple of its own. They didn’t last long, but we’re not complaining. The live events of today seem like a lot more fun to us.

• Finally, if your idea of entertainment is having friends over for summer drinks and snacks on the patio, you won’t want to miss Andrea McCoy’s Salt and Stone recipe this month. You also won’t want to pass up Addy Logsdon’s emotional story of celebrating her conquering of cancer by conquering two of Washington’s most challenging mountains.

All in all, we hope you’ll find this month’s issue … well, entertaining.

— John Taylor