Some numbers to chew over this Independence Day weekend

The Lake Michigan region

I'd like to thank all of you who regularly check the blog for new posts.

I'm happy to report that Lake Michigan Rusyns received 539 unique visitors in June, up from 430 in May. Readers come from around the world, with hits from the Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia, along with Russia, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Australia and the UK.

But 97% of our visitors come from the U.S. And a large number come from Lake Michigan Rusyn country: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and crossing Lake Michigan into the state of Michigan. And readers come from across the U.S., including the Rusyn-American heartland of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Obviously, our focus is our specific piece of the Rusyn-American community. But I try to post articles on broader Rusyn topics.

I'd love to be able to offer more material on our local Rusyn history, like this. I'm always interested in photographs from our past.

So if you have materials to share, please send them to me at lakemichiganrusyns@gmail.com