Ayup, Betsteroids, you can tell fall’s a-coming in. Saturday it’s the first Mariner football game of the season. Fireweed slouches toward fluff. As the sun sets at a little after 11 p.m., you can still hear carpenters pounding away, trying to get buildings closed in before the September rains. And then there are the obvious signs.

Literally. Already campaign signs have popped up around town, a reminder that another political season is upon us. Monday is the filing deadline for a whole bunch of borough and Homer City Council seats. Already a few have proclaimed their worthiness for office by polluting our scenery with big, gaudy signs.

Signs that, oh, by the way, happen to be illegal. What does it say about politicians that they’re so shameless and cynical to run for office they’ll break state laws by putting up outdoor advertising on state highways, like the signs at Lake Street and Main Street on the Bypass? There’s something to contemplate when you look for fields of fireweed and see billboards of red, white and blue.

Ah, but never mind. Let us think of better things, like the beauty of our last precious days of warm sunshine, and yet another great weekend of amazing things to do, like some of these Best Bets:

BEST GET OUT THE POMPOMS BET: Football? In August? Visitors might shake their heads at such an early season — school hasn’t even started yet — but hey, where summer is fall and fall is winter, we have to push up the schedule a bit. The season starts at 11 a.m. Saturday when the Mariner Junior Varsity team takes on Wasilla, followed by the Varsity team at 2 p.m., all at the Homer High School football field.

BEST FREEST FANCY BET: If you were in Alaska 25 years ago, you couldn’t go to a folk festival, Renaissance fair or pub without at some point running into Banish Misfortune. In their floppy hats and with smooth, glorious voices, this trio charmed audiences from Fairbanks to Ketchikan. They went their separate ways, but Lauren Pelon, the woman in Banish Misfortune known for her bagful of odd instruments, returns at 7 p.m. Friday with a concert at Amped Café.

BEST THAT’S MUDBUGS TO YOU BET: Laissez les bon temps roulez, Betsteroids, with a Crawdad Fest at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Alibi. Ray-Jen Cajun plays, with, of course, crawdads — known as “mudbugs” in certain parts of the world. Tickets are $35 and benefit the Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic.

BEST SHE BE JAMMIN’ BET: All over the bay, the berries are busting out. The Betsteroid’s spousal unit helped a friend clean up a hedge the size of a Detroit last week, and did we ever feast on raspberries, yee-haw. Looking for a good patch? Join Fay Smith from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on the Kilcher homestead out East End Road for a day of picking wild berries and learning to make jam. Tickets are $20. Register by Friday by calling 235-5263.

BEST LOW PAY, BUT IT’S A GOOD CAUSE BET: No, no, we’re not talking a thrilling job in the newspaper business, but a career in conservation. Want to learn about protecting the environment and maybe making a living at it? Check out the Conservation Career Fair from 9 a.m.-noon Saturday at the east building of the Kachemak Bay Campus.

BEST LOW SCORE, BUT IT’S A GOOD CAUSE BET: The Betster could never figure out golfing. You mean you don’t want to rack up the points? At the Homer Food Pantry fund-raiser at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Kachemak Lynx Golf Course, it doesn’t matter, because win or lose, the game isn’t about winning: it’s about feeding your neighbors.