■It was rain, drizzle, fog, downpour, thunder and lightning last night as the first sustained rain in weeks fell on the Connecticut Valley. Northampton’s Sidewalk Bargain Days continued, however, and even the rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of shoppers out bargain hunting.
■Northampton police said they harvested a truck full of marijuana in a field off Westhampton Road here last night. Northampton Police Sgt. Eugene Wisnouskas said he and five other officers spent one-half hour yesterday harvesting the crop, which filled the bed of the department’s pickup truck.
■The Oxbow Marina’s water ski show team ended a nine-year drought to win the eastern region tournament yesterday. The marina has not won any tourneys since 1987 when the Coors Light team from Scotia, N.Y., began its championship reign.
■Come October, when a group of volunteers and city employees plan to erect a play structure at the Robert K. Finn Ryan Road School, it will represent two firsts. The apparatus will be the first large play structure in the most populated section of the city, and the structure will be the first in the city — and possibly in the country — to have ramps leading those in wheelchairs to the heart of the equipment.
■Downtown Northampton was full of great music, great food and great deals yesterday during the first day of the annual Northampton Sidewalk Sales. Members of the band Primate Fiasco made their presence felt as they paraded through a sea of shoppers.
■Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins joined other Bay State mayors Friday in urging Washington to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, saying that the failure to do so was “jeopardizing our nation’s economic recovery.” Higgins was one of 20 mayors to sign a letter to President Barack Obama and the commonwealth’s congressional delegation requesting a resolution on the debt ceiling debate.