Mohawk Valley Almanac August 2023
Holidays and Observations for August 2023
August 1 Colorado Day ; Lammas (Cross Quarter Day)
August 3` Ernie Pyle Day (New Mexico)
August 4 Coast Guard Day
August 14 Atlantic Charter Day
August 16 Bennington Battle Day (Vermont)
August 19 National Aviation Day; Admission Day (Hawaii)
August 26 Women’s Equality Day
Early August this year is predicted to be a bit cooler than our rather hot and humid July. Farmers’ markets pick up the pace with greater availability of mid to late summer peppers, tomatoes, blue berries and many other locally grown fruits and vegetables. These are much fresher options to what is available in grocery stores. Anyone with a garden knows the superior taste of vegetables picked at their peak and prepared the within a day or two to what can be bought commercially.
August 1 marks Lammas, a Cross-quarter day mid-way between the supper solstice of June and autumnal equinox of September. Not usually as hot as July with a daily high averaging 81°F and low of of 57°F, the days become noticeably shorter with sunset nearly 7:30 P.M., over an hour earlier than most of June and July. Evenings are sometimes cool and a sweater or light jacket needed on some cooler evenings.
Many still get away for a week or so for camping before preparing for university (beginning late August) or public schools beginning just after Labor Day. There are several well-known festivals, fairs and special days and fairs during this late summer month, though no major holidays.
The Little Falls Canal Celebration, Madison-Bouckville Antique Week, and Herkimer County Fair are provide several days of festivals focused on local history often with music and a variety of foods and in the region. For history buffs, there is the commemoration service at Oriskany Monument of the 1777 Battle of Oriskany.
While no major holidays are in August, Women’s Equality Day (a Proclamation Day) on August 26 has become more commonly celebrated in recent years, especially with the recent increased restrictions on abortion and reproductive health care, increased awareness of domestic violence, sexual harassment and the “Me Too” movement and pay inequalities of women vs. men.
If possible, enjoy the outdoors by attending one of the many fairs, festivals, or historic heritage celebrations of the greater Mohawk Valley as the summer winds down with the all-too-quick transition through the New York State Fair in Syracuse, Labor Day and the cooler, shorter days of fall.
A selection of Regional Festivals and Events
August 4-6 Durant Days at Raquette Lake with Boat Parade and Fireworks
August 6 246th Oriskany Battlefield Anniversary Commemoration, 7:00 – 8:00 P.M.
August 7-15 Little Falls Canal Celebration
August 12 Unadilla National Moto Cross Day at New Berlin
August 14-20 Madison Bouckville Antique Week, NYS Route 20
August 15-20 Herkimer County Fair, Frankfort
August 18-19 30th Chenango Blues Festival, Norwich
August 26 Clinton Arts Festival Saturday, Clinton
In the Night Skies August 2023
Mercury is just above twilight western horizon, with a very faint Mars above it. August 3: Conjunction with Saturn just above waning Full Moon; August 8: Saturn and Jupiter have a pre-dawn conjunction in the east. Starting about the 20th, Venus becomes a morning star in the pre-dawn eastern sky for several weeks. .
The Perseid Meteor Shower, usually the best meteor shower of the year, August 11-12, best seen after midnight at a rate of about 1 meteor a minute in clear rural skies as the waning Crescent Moon rises quite late.
Moon Phases for August
August 1 First Sturgeon Moon Rises 8:56 P.M., SE Sets 5:09 A.M.
(Also known as Green Corn Moon)
August 8 Last Quarter Moon Rises 11:55 P.M., SE Sets 2:18 P.M., NW
August 16 New Moon Rises 6:02 A.M., NE Sets 8:36 P.M., W
August 24 First Quarter Rises 2:44 P.M., E Sets 11:36 P.M.
August 30 Full Blue Moon Rises 7:53 P M., E Sets 5:26 A.M., SW
Rising and Setting Time of Sun, Moon and Visible Planets on August 21, 2023
Sunrise Rises 6:12 A.M. Sets 7:566 P.M.Daylight 11 Hours and 43 minutes
Waxing Crescent Moon Rises 11:16 A.M., NE Sets 10:09 P.M., NW
Mercury Sets 8:47 P.M., W
Venus Rises 5:32 A.M., E
Mars Sets 9:00 P.M., W
Jupiter Rises 10:51 P.M. E
Saturn Rises 8:09 P.M., E
Uranus Rises 11:08 P.M,, E
