LITTLE ROCK — Sizzle fo shizzle! July is packed tight as a firecracker with all the fuse that’s fit to print — fireworks, motorcycles, cowboys, wrestlers, cardboard boats and — hot news if you happen to be a mosquito — nudists.
LIGHT AND AERIE 1 The Eagles, 7:30 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Details on $895 VIP ticket packages at iloveallaccess. com. Call (800) 745-3000.
BUCKING, THE TREND
Rodeo of the Ozarks through July 3 at Parsons Stadium, Springdale. Details at rodeooftheozarks. com. Call (877) 927-6336.
BELLE ON WHEELS 2 Women’s Motorcycle Month — va-va-vrrroom.
Oaklawn Spa Blast, 5 p.m. into the night’s family celebration with fireworks at Oaklawn Park, Hot Springs. Call (501) 623-4411.
HOT DIGGITY! 3 Dog days of summer, generally the hottest days of the year, through Aug. 11. F.O.B.: FREEBIES, OUTDOORS, BANDS Independence Day Family Festival, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock. Free library admission, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. July 3, and 1-5 p.m. July 4, includes the current exhibit, “Nature Unleashed: Earthquakes and Hurricanes.” Call (501) 374-4242.
THIS SPUD’S FOR YOU
Idaho admission day, 1890. Idaho admits there is no easy answer to the frequently asked question, “Why are some mashed potatoes lumpier than others?” But the Idaho Potato Commission gives it a try at Idahopotato.com:
“Individual potato cells are susceptible to breaking down based on amount of starch,” they say, and so on, and so much for science. The real answer to how come the mashed potatoes are lumpy? —
Granny didn’t make ’em.
RED, WHITE AND BLOOEY 4 Independence Day Pops on the River, state’s largest, free Fourth of July celebration, sponsored by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Gates open at 5:30 p.m. at Riverfest Amphitheatre in downtown Little Rock’s River Market District; Happy Times Jazz Band, 7 p.m.; Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, 8:30 p.m.; fireworks about 9:30 p.m. Details at arkansasonline. com/pops. Call (501) 378-3807.
DONE TO A PHARE-THEE-WELL 5 Last day of the “World of the Pharaohs: Treasures of Egypt Revealed” exhibit at the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Call (501) 372-4000.
CURRENT EVENTS
Voices at the River playwright workshop and readings through July 18, focusing on black and Hispanic writers, at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, downtown Little Rock. Details at therep.org. Call (501) 378-0405.
Smart Irrigation Month
BARE NECESSITIES 6 Nude Recreation Week through July 11, sponsored by The Naturist Society at naturistsociety.com, the shopper’s source of everything a nudist needs including “Barefoot All Over” bumper stickers and ... T-shirts?!
7 The gemstone for this hot month is: (A) the fire opal, (B) the smoky topaz, (C) the Mount St. Helens emerald, or (D) the ruby. Answer at July 23.
ZEPPELIN-DOO-DAH 8 Gasbag inventor Count von Zeppelin’s birthday, 1838.
Musical 110 in the Shade through July 11 and July 15-18 by the Royal Players at the Royal Theatre, downtown Benton. Details at theroyalplayers. com. Call (501) 315-5483. Book appraisal evening with Allan Stypeck, former co-host of The Book Guys on National Public Radio, 6:30 p.m. in the Darragh Center, Central Arkansas Library System Main Library, downtown Little Rock. Call (501) 918-3086.
9 Cell Phone Courtesy Month. People with bad phone manners ought to be thrown in jail. The trouble is — never enough bars.
HAPPY FACE-TO-FACE 10 Dick Van Dyke and The Vantastics, 6:30 p.m. at the Hot Springs Civic and Convention Center, Hot Springs, benefits the American Cancer Society. Call (501) 249-9034.
11 How to celebrate National Farriers Week: Shoe enough. HEY!-HEY!-HEY!
12 International Town Criers Day
13 The heat-resistant flower for July is the: (A) tiger lily, (B) water lily, (C) lily of the valley, or (D) lily of the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant. Answer at July 15. TEARS AND TIARAS
14 Miss Arkansas Pageant through July 17 at Hot Springs Civic and Convention Center, Hot Springs. Details at missarkansas.org. Call (501) 321-3506.
KING LOUIE LE SKUNK DE PEW
Bastille Day in France remembers the start of the French Revolution, 1789.
LED ZEPPELIN DOO-DAH 15 Robert Plant and the Band of Joy, 8 p.m. at Robinson Center Music Hall, Little Rock. Call (800) 745-3000.
Plant quiz answer: (B) water lily, or as the bullfrog said when the lily pad sank: “All of a sudden, I ain’t got squat.”
LIGHT AND RELIGHT ENTERTAINMENT 16 Bordertown Bash barbecue cook-off through July 17 at Fort Smith Park, Fort Smith. Details at bordertownbash.com. Call (479) 650-9135.
National Grilling Month
— tongs for the memory.
JUPITER ALIGNS WITH MARS
Musical Hair through July 18 and weekends through Aug. 8 at The Weekend Theater, downtown Little Rock. Call (501) 374-3761.
BEAN BALL
Bountiful Arkansas celebration of locally grown produce through July 17 at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton. Call (501) 727-6281.
Friends of Central Arkansas Libraries (FOCAL) Book sale through July 18 in the Main Library basement, downtown Little Rock. Call (501) 918-3000.
PAPA SANG BASS
17 Men’s a cappella harmony show, Then and Now, with the Diamond State Chorus and the Four Reps, 7 p.m. at Connor Performing Arts Center, Pulaski Academy, Little Rock. Details at diamondstatechorus.com. Call (501) 791-7464.
18 Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, 5 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Call (800) 745-3000.
National Ice Cream Day
— on a stick. 19 Gunsmith Samuel Colt’s birthday, 1814, and loaded question: If Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Pat Garrett and Frank and Jesse James all got together to holler, “Happy birthday!” —would it be a six-shouter? TWIST AND SHOUT 20 World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Smackdown, 6:30 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Call (800) 745-3000. 21 How to celebrate National Recreation and Parks Month: With outdoor manners.
SQUEAK SOFTLY, CARRY A BIG STICK 22 Rat-Catchers Day “The giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.”— Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
BELL CURVE
Ding-Dong Days through July 25 in Dumas. Call (870) 382-5447.
FOWL BALL 23 Camp Aldersgate Rubber Duck Regatta, dinner and toy duck race, 3-8 p.m. at Wild River Country, North little Rock, benefits the camp for children with disabilities. Details at campaldersgate.net. Call (501) 225-1444.
Hot rock quiz answer: (D) ruby, as in ruby-red grapefruit, ruby-throated hummingbirds, and Rub-eeeee, don’t take your love to town.
Donald Lawrence & Co., 7:30 p.m. at Robinson Center Music Hall, Little Rock. Call (800) 745-3000.
24 National Drive-Through Day, National Day of the Cowboy
Roy Rogers called out For a burger that’s bigger, A shake and some fries And an apple for Trigger. The guy at the window Was Billy the Kid; He bagged up Roy’s order, And said, “Want a lid?”
IN THE GLOW
Firefly Festival, 7-10 p.m. at the Botanical Garden
of the Ozarks, Fayetteville. Call (479) 750-2620. 25 National Horseradish Month — a fiery horse with the speed of light. 26 National Hot Dog Month, and three kinds of dogs to bite: Chicago dog: With pickle relish. Texas dog: With chili. Foot-long gas-station dog: With regrets.
HER: ADORABLE
HIM: ADOPTABLE 27 Beauty and the Beast through Aug. 8 at Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. Call (479) 443-5600. 28 How to celebrate National Blueberries Month: Once in a blue moon. I’M-A TELL YOU ONE TIME 29 Justin Bieber, 7 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Call (800) 745-3000. 30 Sandwich Generation Month — between a rock and a hard place.
YOUR SPECIAL ISLAND
Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific by Rogers Little Theater, through Aug. 15 at the Victory Theater, downtown Rogers. Call (479) 631-8988.
READY OAR NOT 31 World Championship Cardboard Boat Races, starting at 10 a.m. at Sandy Beach, Heber Springs. Details at heber-springs.com. Call (501) 362-2444.
Coming next month: August! Call (501) 399-3633, write to Ron Wolfe, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 121 E. Capitol Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail
rwolfe@arkansasonline.com
by July 15 to suggest August calendar entries or ways to get ready for August’s observance of Get Ready for Kindergarten Month, such as: Find words to comfort the wee beginner. There, there now, kiddo; there’s nothing wrong with school that you can’t work through in 12 years. Each event requires a phone number that is answered during business hours or by an answering machine that identifies the event or its sponsor.
Style, Pages 29 on 06/29/2010