The seasons have arrived, be prepared

Halloween costumes are on display, holiday recipes are increasingly available online and people are sipping on their pumpkin spiced lattes as they jauntily make their way down the street — it must be September.

Another harbinger of this time of year is the colorful campaign signs sprouting along city sidewalks, abandoned lots and manicured lawns. It’s still early so the telltale signs of election season are sparse, but come mid to late October, political colors will in vibrant abundance around town.

This week The Star-News gets in the spirit of election season — though some people refer to it as the silly season given the shenanigans and melodramas that surround some of the campaigns — by featuring interviews with two candidates in National City.

Marcus Bush and Ditas Yamane kick off a series of weekly interviews with incumbents and would-be electeds who want to lead their respective cities.

Aside from their city council races there are other campaigns of local interest.

School boards, state Assembly seats and congressional districts all have contests that will be decided starting Nov. 3.

The Star-News, like most news outlets, will do their best to cover campaigns and inform readers about the people and issues that are driving their campaigns. But, as we have learned through this pandemic, the most effective way of understanding an issue is through teamwork and education.

If you haven’t registered to vote there is still time. If you know someone who has not registered to vote, there is still time to cajole them into participating. Once that formality is out of the way, would-be voters need to study and research. Relying on outlets like The Star-News for candidate information is only a small part of being an informed voter.

The season is here. There is no escaping. May as well roll with it until Nov. 3 — at which time there will still be plenty of time for Christmas shopping

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Another sign of the fall-ish season is the annual Bonitafest. This year, as a concession to the COVID-19 pandemic, a car parade led by the Bonita-Sunnyside Fire Department will kick off at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Sweetwater Community Church, 5305 Sweetwater Road. For parade route details check out the Bonitafest page on Facebook.