Officially, at least. We encourage volunteers to arrive 10-15 minutes before 9:00 so we can give people project preferences and get the first cars on the road by 9:00 to battle the armies of orange cones and have enough time to rock out in the D. On the back end, 2:00 is a very good guess, but a typical day can range from 1:30 to 2:30, depending on location, traffic and weather. We end each week with a mandatory barbecue and an optional “Friday After Party.” If you need to get back around 2:00, that shouldn’t be a problem, but we hope you’ll stay and kick with us and get back between 3:00 and 4:00.

Every day is a big day at Summer in the City, so you really can’t go wrong. And we have multiple mural (Paint!), garden (Plant!) and youth enrichment sites every day, so the world is your oyster. Fridays, of course, feature our famous barbecues, but don’t miss out on the Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday action just because there’s no charcoal charcoaling. (We’re looking at investing in a sno-cone machine). Mondays are off so we can can set up the week’s wacktastic projects and weekends are for R&R – Riverwalk and Roast.

Best piece advice: it’s never too late to get involved, but the Summer goes by fast so get off the couch already. Maybe that was two pieces of advice. In any case, one of the things that’s great about Summer in the City is that any day could be your first or last, but the more you come, the more familiar faces you see and friends you’ll make. Two Summer in the City people actually got married – no pressure or anything. As for this year, we’re expecting a mid-summer Magglio visit, hopeful some people will come July 15 after seeing Harry Potter at midnight, and planning for the biggest day in recorded history as we wrap ten years in the D on August 12.