Whether you’re prepping to show a lamb at the fair, or polishing up that boat because there’s finally water in the lake (!), chances are good you’ll be happy to find a little shade in Paso this summer. If you’ve visited the General Store Paso Robles recently, you’ll notice that our T-shirt rack has been replaced with new goodies, including rows of shade-giving baseball hats, several created 100 percent just for us.

It turns out, the very first baseball hats were actually straw hats, worn with flannel shirts and wool pants (can you imagine?) by the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club. Our favorite bit of trivia, though, is around “rally caps,” worn often upside down, inside out, or in some other unconventional way by superstitious fans and players trying to will their way to a win. Last year, a man named Ben thought putting his Birkenstock (unofficial shoe of the General Store team, thank you, Takkens and Sole Tree!) on top of his Mariners hat would somehow influence the game … and it did, or that’s the story we’re going with. That Rally Cap Birkenstock is headed straight to the Seattle Baseball Hall of Fame.

Other new treats at GSPR this summer include pegs and pegs of tote bags made just for us, with everything from drawings of the store, to a drawing of a cowboy and an oak tree, and an image of ranchos that SLO County used in a promotional brochure back in the day. Our favorite, though, has to be the one of our three pups: Lucy, Lucky, and Bodhi. Two out of the three are the sweetest little guys/gals you’ve ever met. The third, well, let’s just say he’d be the loudest thing you’d hear at a Giants or Dodgers game. (Okay, it’s Bodhi. Bless him). The tote shows a little drawing of the three, and underneath the words General Store, it says, “Founded in 2013, by our moms.”

They, and the team here at GSPR, wish you a summer full of reasons to wear a hat and carry a tote bag filled to the brim to share at the park, the beach, or a ball game. Hot dogs would also be a very good idea. (Or so Bodhi, Lucky, and Lucy say.)

Happy summer, neighbors!

The Team at General Store Paso Robles

PASO ROBLES PRESS MAGAZINE

Copies of Paso Robles Press Magazine are directly delivered to 23,000 readers in zip codes 93446, 93451, and 93465 and 2,000 dropped with support from advertisers and subscribers. Together, we are Making Communities Better Through Print.™

To subscribe or advertise, click here.