Washington’s annual Summer Festival returns to the city’s waterfront June 10-11.

The 28th version of the Summer Festival won’t just happen. It takes planning, and lots of it. That planning is performed by employees of the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event, and chamber volunteers – lots of chamber volunteers.

Summer Festival is one of the chamber’s largest fundraisers each year. The more the Summer Festival is a success financially, the more the chamber can do in the community. That’s why it’s important for area residents, businesses and others to support the Summer Festival.

After nearly 30 years of Summer Festivals, it’s easy to understand why some people, especially local folks, take Summer Festival for granted. Well, they shouldn’t.

The chamber isn’t taking the community for granted.

The chamber provides such programs and projects as Leadership Beaufort, which educates area people about Beaufort County and its municipalities so they can become more effective leaders in those communities. The chamber supports initiatives such as Let the Kids Play Free, which is about making the cost of playing youth sports more affordable, with the ultimate goal of children being able to play sports at no cost to them. With programs and initiatives like those, the chamber is improving the community.

We can repay the chamber for its support of the community by supporting it. A good way to provide that support is to attend the upcoming Summer Festival, buy a festival T-shirt and thank the chamber employees and volunteers for their efforts to improve the community.

They’ve earned it.