July is one big pop-up ad for summer. Rockets rocket, clowns clown, buckin' broncos buck, fireflies flit lit, flying saucers sail like paper plates at a Fourth of July picnic, and most of all -- Yankee Doodle keeps it up, Yankee Doodle dandy.
1 Day before World UFO Day -- time to brace for saucer landing. This is your captain speaking. Vertebrate passengers, please return to an upright position. Invertebrates, please stow yourselves under the seat in front of you. The right porthole offers a last glimpse of Mars as we near the Earth. The left porthole overlooks Heber Springs.
Delta Exhibition through Sept. 28 at the Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Details at arkarts.com. Call (501) 372-4000.
Buckaroo ado
2 Rodeo of the Ozarks through July 5 at Parsons Stadium, Springdale. Details at rodeooftheozarks.com. Call (877) 927-6336.
Forecast: Ice in July
Movies in the Park free screening, Frozen, sunset at First Security Amphitheater in downtown Little Rock's River Market District. Series continues with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, July 9; The Hunger Games, July 16; Friday Night Lights, July 23; E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, July 30. Details at rivermarket.info. Call (501) 376-4781.
Her with a grrr
Wild Women Wednesday hike, 6 p.m. at Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock. Women's hikes continue Wednesdays through September. Details at arkansasstateparks.com. Call (501) 868-5806.
Air National Guard Band of the Southwest outdoor concert, 7 p.m. at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, Little Rock. Details at arkmilitaryheritage.com. Call (501) 376-4602.
Real live nephew of his Uncle Sam
3 "Yankee Doodle Dandy" composer George M. Cohan's birthday, 1878.
"Many a bum show has been saved by the flag." -- George M. Cohan
Boom chicka boom
4 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Pops on the River, noon to night at the River Market and First Security Amphitheater, downtown Little Rock. Attractions include children's activities, market booths, food truck concessions, "Oh, Say Can You Sing?" contest, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, fireworks starting about 9:30 p.m. Details at showtime.arkansasonline.com/pops. Call (501) 378-3807.
Fort Smith Mayor's Fourth of July Celebration, 7 p.m., with Mr. Cabbage Head and the Screaming Radishes, fireworks in Harry E. Kelley Park, Fort Smith. Details at fortsmith.org. Call (479) 783-8888.
Double dip yip
5 National Ice Cream Month.
Circus clown takes a bath, leaves a ring
Circus showman P.T. Barnum's birthday, 1810. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus comes to Verizon Arena in North Little Rock from Aug. 14-17. Details at ringling.com.
Blue stew
6 National Blueberries Month celebrates blue food. Today's menu: blue trout, blue corn chips, blue cheese, blue M&Ms, purple cabbage, Navy blue beans, Catalina blue dressing, blueberries.
Rocky Raccoon
7 Beatle Ringo Starr's 74th birthday.
Rock 'em platoon
American Taekwondo Association World Expo with seminars, training and competition through July 13 at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock. Details at ataonline.com. Call (501) 568-2821.
Wring tone
8 Cell Phone Courtesy Month.
They told the young man,
"Sir, please shut off your phone,"
But the geek-of-the-week wouldn't do it;
He salted and peppered
And swallowed his phone,
And said, "Better to chew
than eschew it."
Sharlee onna Harley
9 Women's Motorcycle Month.
Staged uprisings
10 Community Theatre of Little Rock musical, Rent, through July 27 at The Studio Theatre, downtown Little Rock. Details at ctlr-act.org. Call (501) 410-2283.
Royal Players musical, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, through July 13 and July 17-20 at the Royal Theatre, Benton. Details at theroyalplayers.com. Call (501) 315-5483.
Musical 9 to 5 through July 20 at the South Arkansas Arts Center's Callaway Theatre, El Dorado. Details at saac-arts.org. Call (870) 862-5474.
Laramie back to ol' Virginny
Wyoming admission day, 1890. Wyoming admits the favorite seasoning in Cheyenne is cayenne on penne julienne, the meal of manly mien.
The king has no clothes, the queen nearly froze
11 How to celebrate Nude Recreation Week: with the barest excuse.
Owl and the pussycat went to see
12 Moonlight cruise, 8:30 p.m. at DeGray Lake Resort State Park near Bismarck. Details at degray.com. Call (800) 737-8355.
Rock on
13 July's birthstone is red as a firecracker, namely (A) garnet, (B) ruby or (C) Red Krypronite.
Answer at July 28.
Oui've had it
14 Bastille Day -- start of the French Revolution, 1789, and the latest in Paris fashion looks: the peasant blouse.
Moos in the news
15 Cow Appreciation Day: Tipped again.
Hot off the presses
16 National Grilling Month. Grilled sandwiches follow the dinky trend of slight sliders and petite pinwheels with a miniature hot dog: the teeny weenie panini.
Hero for the rest of us
17 "Wrong Way" Corrigan Day remembers mixed-up pilot Douglas Corrigan. Taking off from New York to Los Angeles, in 1938, Corrigan read his compass backward -- or so he claimed. He landed in Ireland. Also, he landed a deal to endorse wristwatches that ran backward.
Fear and loathing
18 Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's birthday, 1939.
"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up." -- Hunter S. Thompson
Bugs on the blink
19 Firefly Fling, music and children's activities, 6 p.m. at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, Fayetteville. Details at bgozarks.org. Call (479) 750-2620.
A good lick
20 Lollipop Day, and other good things on a stick:
• Corn dog.
• Ice-cream bar.
• '67 Camaro.
Twinkie, Twinkie, little star
21 Junk Food Day -- a sugar-, fat- and guilt-laden celebration of all things that end in "O": Cheetos, Doritos, Tostitos, Oreos, Ho Hos, burritos, escargots and uh-ohs.
The Pied Piper had peeps
22 How to celebrate Rat Catcher's Day: with a little pick-me-up -- by the tail.
The month that roared
23 LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is today your birthday, big cat? If so, it's your time for a nap. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.
Branch office
24 How to celebrate National Parks and Recreation Month: Tiptoe through the tulips.
Songs and speeches in praise of peaches
Johnson County Peach Festival, peaches, bands and bullfrog race through July 26, Clarksville. Details at sites.google.com/site/johnsoncountypeachfestival/. Call (479) 754-2340.
Stomp with pomp
25 Altus Grape Festival, grape stomping and wine tasting. Details at altusgrapefest.com. Call (479) 468-4684.
Xanadu can-do
Musical Xanadu through July 27, July 31-Aug. 3 and Aug. 7-10 at the Victory Theater, Rogers. Details at rogerslittletheater.org. Call (479) 631-8988.
Everything but the kitchen sinks
26 Championship Cardboard Boat Race, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Sandy Beach, Heber Springs. Details at heber-springs.com. Call (501) 362-2444.
Ya-hoo who's who
National Day of the Cowboy, and chuck wagon wisdom updated for today's computerized cowpoke:
• Always drink upstream from the herd -- downstream from the data.
• If it don't seem worth a tweet, it probably ain't.
• Never sell your mule to buy a plow, nor your iPhone to buy an app.
Quick draw yee-hah
Showdown at Sunset gunfight re-enactment at 6 p.m., Joshua Scott Jones concert at 7 p.m., downtown El Dorado. Details at mainstreeteldorado.org. Call (870) 862-4747.
Girls just wanna have fin
The Little Mermaid, 7 p.m. at the Ozark Heritage Arts Center and Museum, Leslie, near Marshall. Call (501) 941-4828.
Ridin' highs
Vintage military vehicle show, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, Little Rock. Call (501) 376-4602.
Wampoo Rodeo bike ride, 7 a.m. from All Souls Church in Scott, benefits the Marilyn Fulper Memorial Fund. Call (501) 590-9525.
Wasabi's hobby horse
27 How to celebrate National Horseradish Month: with blazing saddles.
Stone certain
28 Rock-on quiz answer: (B) ruby -- not (A) garnet, darn it, and not (C) Red Kryptonite, which had strange and unpredictable effects on Superman -- much like horseradish.
Gone to the dogs
29 National Hot Dog Month. Americans eat about 150 million hot dogs each Fourth of July, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. Each hot dog has 150 million ingredients, of which 149 million are unpronounceable except by a chemist, and the rest are things nobody wants to hear. Pass the mustard.
News leak
30 Smart Irrigation Month. Smart irrigation waters the lawn; dumb irrigation waters the street; happy irrigation waters the birds.
31 Author J.K. Rowling's 49th birthday, as she considers ideas for the next adventures of Harry Potter:
• Harry Potter and the Stoned Sorcerer: The boy wizard's adventures in Colorado.
• Harry Potter and the Amazon Robots: The invasion lands on Harry's porch.
• Harry Potter and the Magic Card: The author looks toward the big five-oh and senior discounts to come from being an AARP member.
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 how to celebrate August as Traffic Awareness Month, such as: Honk if you love to make traffic even worse. 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 on 07/01/2014