APS -- Isn't SUMMER WITHOUT IT.

Your summer won't be complete without attending the third annual Agricultural Publications Summit scheduled Aug. 1-4. Hosting the Summit is the beautiful Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids, Mich., where you can escape the summer's heat. As a bonus, you may attend a pre-Summit reception at the Gerald Ford Library & Museum.

Our meeting this year promises to provide all the professional contacts and information agri-marketers need to improve their business. The program offers a wide array of professional improvement for everyone from writers and photographers to managers and marketers.

For the first time, a golf tournament will be held for all attendees of the Summit. The scramble tournament kicks off at noon on Wednesday, Aug. 1, at the beautiful Grand Rapids Golf Club.

If you're not interested in golf, we've also provided two pre-Summit clinics to help you brush up on writing and photography skills. Paula LaRocque, writing coach for The Dallas Morning News, and Elmer Kelton, a humorist book author from Texas, will conduct a writing clinic. If photography is your passion, sign up for the clinic led by Phillipe Gross, author of The Tao of Photography -- Seeing Beyond Seeing.

The Summit officially opens Thursday, Aug. 2, at noon with a luncheon address by the well-known White House correspondent Helen Thomas. It then breaks into an afternoon of workshops and InfoExpo. End the evening by competing in the first-ever Ag Olympics, designed with a Michigan twist.

Friday is devoted to more workshops, speakers and InfoExpo, with awards dinners concluding the day. The Summit ends on Saturday with the final workshop and a luncheon with the inspirational speaker Jack van der Geest. Van der Geest recently wrote the book Was God on Vacation? based on his experiences during the Holocaust. His upbeat address will provide attendees with a wonderful take-home message.

If you're staying over Saturday night, sign up for one of three optional tours Saturday afternoon and enjoy a dinner on the lakeside grounds of the Kellogg Biological Station.

No matter how you look at it, you can't afford to miss this year's Agricultural Publications Summit. We'll see you there!