Let's do a little catching up (PHOTO GALLERY)

Hey, everyone! Here I am!

This summer I celebrated my 20th anniversary as entertainment editor for the Daily News, and I can state unequivocally that August 2010 was the busiest ever for local entertainment.

To accommodate coverage of as many events as possible, I gave up my column space for the last four weeks, but I’ve been here the whole time trying to make sure you received the details you needed. And I keep up my blog at nwfdailynews.com, so you can usually find me there, too.

Anyway, I hope you’ve taken advantage of the many extra events. Much of the increased activity can be attributed to the scramble to salvage something of the summer season from the Gulf Oil Spill Fiasco.

Did they make up for an entire season? Of course not, but I think those involved, from the organizers to the attendees, should be commended for making the effort.

September and October are always busy entertainment months what with festivals and fairs and concert seasons opening. So I hope you’re ready for a lot of fun.

This Labor Day holiday weekend gets things rolling with a huge variety of activities. Today’s cover story rounds up some events for you, featuring the Greek Festival at the Emerald Coast Conference Center on Okaloosa Island. Be sure to look at all of the briefs for other events.

So, on this unofficial last weekend of summer, let’s catch up a little bit. Here’s some of what I did in August.

I spent some time in South Walton and discovered a new dune overlook has been built at Grayton Beach.

Here are some photos I took of it.

It’s in the same area as the boardwalk down to the beach from the village, just a little to the west on the other side of the street there.

It stretches out over the dunes and dead-ends into an open-air seating area of built-in benches. I enjoyed a copy of the Walton Sun there one morning until it started to rain, which was a recurring theme in August.

Speaking of South Walton, I learned that Kellie Pickler of “American Idol” fame got engaged to her songwriter boyfriend at Rosemary Beach.

You can find a photo of them online that looks as if it were taken at there. Our beautiful Emerald Coast beaches continue to be a favorite with celebrities.

I read “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson. As you’ve probably heard, Hollywood has decided to make a movie from the hotly popular book. There is already a Swedish movie.

What caught my attention was a reference in the prologue of the book to Pensacola. Apparently, Larsson was aware of our area, too. I always find that interesting and wonder how he knew about Northwest Florida.

I attended the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert on Okaloosa Island with my sons and was surprised at how many of the songs they knew.

Despite the damp weather, we had a good time and, once again, using the free shuttle service worked out great.

However, I didn’t care for the change in the stage arrangement because it caused the crowd to be split by the easternmost boardwalk.

I’ll look forward to future Rock the Beach concerts and enjoy wearing my souvenir T-shirt in the meantime.

Now, bring on the sunshine!