Tuesday evening found the lawn at Muriel Iverson Williams Waterfront Park nearly full, and for good reason: there were two gatherings happening at once.

Under the Austin-Kvelstad Pavilion, Nashville artist Kara Hesse gave Summer Nights at the Bay a memorable evening. Wildfire haze had settled over Liberty Bay, and her voice suited it: smoky skies, smoky voice. When she reached for “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” the camp chairs and picnic blankets stretched clear back past the benches.

Just next door, Poulsbo's first responders were holding National Night Out, the annual evening when police, firefighters, and neighbors meet one another on friendly terms. Children seemed to be having the best of it.

Summer Nights at the Bay is a Poulsbo tradition of more than twenty years, free on Tuesday evenings through mid-August. If you have not yet brought a blanket down to the water this summer, the season is not over yet.