Memorial Day Weekend is known by all New Englanders as the unofficial start of summer.  

Though the seasons don't technically change until the longest day of the year in late June, it is traditionally this weekend that marks the beginning - Newport beaches open, boats dock off into the water, summer sushi starts at Clarke Cooke House. MDW may be my favorite weekend of the year - it usually holds the first nights out in open air at Bowen's Wharf and meeting old friends who are returning for the season, but best of all, the whole summer is ahead of you - bright, balmy, and glistening. 

MDW also marks the beginning of our busiest season at Harper & Tucker. There is no better feeling than greeting faces we haven't seen since last year, and showing off all of the summer collections filling our boutique. We prepare for this weekend for months - making sure we have curated just the right pieces that our customers will fall in love with - and then bask in the sight of Newport coming to life in the blink of an eye. 

This year, the unofficial start of summer comes with a twinge of sadness. There is no denying the greater struggles going on in the world with the global pandemic. The plans so many of us laid for this summer have been cancelled or rescheduled, and the traditions I look forward to all year are looking just so different. But I didn't bring you here to commiserate! Summer is a state of mind as much as it is the sum of all of our usual experiences this time of year. I hope one day soon we can have a usual Newport summer, but until then, we are taking the lemons life has thrown at us and mixing them in a cocktail. Just because MDW looks different this year doesn't mean we can't greet it with joy and in style. I personally will still be wearing my new summer pieces, even if the furthest place I'm going is my deck!