July is National Grilling Month and National Horseradish Month with fireworks. July is so hot that sweltering dogs eat baked potatoes, and Hot Springs is a place to cool off.
GLOWING REVIEW
1 "Art by the People — for the People" exhibit of vintage black-light posters from Third Eye publishing, designed by Arkansas native Roberta Bell Ehrlich, through summer at Fort Smith Museum of History, Fort Smith. Details at fortsmithmuseum.org. Call (479) 783-7841.
SHOCK AND SCHLOCK
2 Terror Tuesday showing of The Terror (1963) with Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson, 7 p.m. at Ron Robinson Theater, part of the Central Arkansas Library System's downtown campus. Series continues with horror classics Teenagers From Outer Space, July 9; The Wasp Woman, July 16, and House on Haunted Hill, July 23. Details at cals.org. Call (501) 320-5715.
THE EYES HAVE IT
World UFO Day.
"Watch the skies, everywhere. Keep looking!" — The Thing (from Another World) (1951).
SCREEN SAVERS
3 Movies in the Park outdoor screening of The Greatest Showman (2017), 8:30 p.m. at First Security Amphitheater in downtown Little Rock's River Market District. Series continues with The Sandlot, July 10; Dodgeball, July 17; Jumanji, July 24, and The Help, July 31. Details at rivermarket.info. Call (501) 320-3500.
RIGHT OF REFRIED REFUSAL
Disobedience Day and Eat Your Beans Day — or don't.
BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
4 Independence Day.
SIZZLE DAZZLE
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Pops on the River festivities and fireworks, River Market District and Riverfront Park, downtown Little Rock. Celebration starts at 3 p.m. with food trucks, children's activities, military appreciations, music by Nikki Parish and Rodney Black. Fireworks and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, 9:30 p.m. Details at pops.arkansasonline.com. Call (501) 378-3807.
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY
Fireworks Spectacular with entertainment at 7 p.m., Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and fireworks at 9:15 p.m. at Walmart AMP, Rogers. Details waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 443-5600.
TWO-PART OBSERVATION
5 National Bikini Day celebrates the 63rd birthday of the swimsuit that's nearly a birthday suit.
FOOL WITH MOTHER NATURE
6 Celebrate Summer Day with music, snow cones and running through the sprinklers, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs. Details at garvangardens.org. Call (501) 262-9300.
SKIN IN THE GAME
7 Nude Recreation Week and "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" tournament.
X-MEN PLAY XBOX
8 Aching thumbs up for Video Game Day.
PARCHED PORCH POOCHES
9 Hounded-by-the-heat Dog Days of Summer, and Arkansas is a blistering competition for the hottest place in the state. Among the fired-up contenders: Coal Hill, Sulphur Rock, Ash Flat, Gassville.
WATCH THE SKIES: PART 2
10 Mary Poppins through Aug. 24 at Murry's Dinner Playhouse, Little Rock. Details at murrysdp.com. Call (501) 562-3131.
SHE VROOM, SHE VROOM
11 How to celebrate Women's Motorcycle Month: out of the way.
HILLS AND THRILLS
12 Fat Tire Festival and mountain biking events through July 14, Lake Leatherwood City Park, Eureka Springs. Details at eurekaspringschamber.com. Call (479) 253-8737.
KEY NOTE SPEAKER
Pianist George Winston, 7:30 p.m. at Wildwood Park for the Arts, Little Rock. Details at wildwoodpark.org. Call (501) 821-7275.
FOUR-SCOOP HARMONY
13 National Ice Cream Month, Barbershop Music Appreciation Day, and ice cream flavors to sing for July: Sweet Adeline, Walkin' with My Honey, Recipe for Love.
IN LIKE FIN
14 Shark Awareness Day — or in Arkansas, mosquitoes.
HOOTIE TOOT-TOOT
15 Hootie and the Blowfish with Barenaked Ladies, 7:30 p.m. at Walmart AMP, Rogers. Details waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 443-5600.
MOOS TO ME
Cow Appreciation Day — for moo'vers and shakers.
GREEN ENERGY
16 Fresh Spinach Day — when cows that eat spinach give Muscle Milk.
I'm Popeye the dairy man,
(Squirt-squirt),
I fill up me dairy can,
(Squirt-squirt),
I go around pallin'
With cows by the gallon,
A milk mustache man, I yam.
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
17 Arkansas takes a drenched pass on Smart Irrigation Month.
PIT STOP
18 Johnson County Peach Festival, through July 20 with cobbler bake-off and pie-eating contest in Clarksville, "Home of the Elberta Peach." Details at jocopeachfest.com. Call (479) 754-9152.
RINGTONE DEAF
19 Cellphone Courtesy Month — but nothing is deader than cellphone courtesy, except for dead cellphones.
WE REPRESENT THE LOLLIPOP GUILD
20 National Lollipop Day remembers the 1940s' invention of Saf-T-Pops, the lollipop on a loop. What the candy's inventor claimed made it safe was: (A) You could dangle your lollipop safely off your nose; (B) If you swallowed your lollipop, the doctor could reach down your throat and hook the loop with his finger, or (C) The bendable handle was easier for a toddler to hold.
Answer at July 28.
SINKING PROSPECTS
World Championship Cardboard Boat Races and Titanic Award for most spectacular sinking, 10 a.m. at Sandy Beach on Greers Ferry Lake, Heber Springs. Details at heber-springs.com. Call (501) 362-2444.
BUG ADO
Inspect an Insect Weekend through July 21 at Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock. Details at arkansas.com. Call (501) 868-5806.
BEACH OUT OF REACH
21 National Vacation Rental Month — but everything sold out in April, unless Utah counts as an ocean view.
HENNESSY YENNESSY TOOTLES THE FLUTE
22 Ratcatcher's Day remembers the Pied Piper of Hamelin, who lured the rats — and the children — away from the German village of Hamelin. But who remembers what "pied" says about him: (A) He peeped his pipe for pie; (B) He wore a coat of many colors like Dolly Parton's, or (C) He left the "S"s off his words, as when he said: "I 'pied a rat."
Answer at July 31.
LION'S SHARE
23 LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is today your birthday? If so, today's your mane event. Prowl the jungle with fellow purr-fectionists Mick Jagger, 76 on July 26; and Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, 54 on July 31.
TOUGH GUY, EH?
Raymond Chandler's birthday, 1888, and the way a hard-boiled detective writer likes his cake: "inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food."
MARY HAD A LITTLE LIME
24 National Tequila Day steers for the rocks.
VINE TIME HAD BY ALL
25 Cave City Watermelon Festival through July 27, Cave City, with Shenandoah and Mark Chestnutt, prize watermelon auction, pancakes. Details at cavecitywatermelonfestival.com. Call (870) 283-5301.
CANTALOUPE WON'T ELOPE
National Watermelon Month and — ptooie! — seed-spitting contest.
WINE TIME HAD BY ALL
26 Altus Grape Festival through July 27, Altus City Park, and wine country tours. Details at altusgrapefest.com. Call (479) 518-1963.
EAST SIDE'S UP, AND THE WEST SIDE'S DOWN
New York state Admission Day, 1788. New York judiciary admits the Southern District of New York is just like the Northern District of New York, except the Southern bailiffs say, "Y'all rise."
HE SEES TO IT THE COWS COME HOME
27 National Day of the Cowboy, and cowboy wisdom updated from 1889 to 2019:
• Never squat on your spurs — or your cellphone.
• He's all hat and no kale.
• You can judge a man by the electric scooter he rides.
SLURP, SLURP AND AWAY
28 Don't be a sucker quiz answer: (C) A Saf-T-Pop is better for toddlers thanks to its "signature flexible handle," according to the manufacturer at saftpops.com. They don't say, but it's also true that a lollipop that's dropped less picks up less carpet fuzz, and nothing's worse than a hairy lollipop.
TAKE IT TO THE MAT
29 World Wrestling Entertainment Monday Night Raw, 6:30 p.m. with Seth Rollins and Baron Corbin at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (501) 945-9000.
WHO-HE HOO-HA-HA
30 Father-in-Law Day finally gets around to the world's least celebrated man: a guy so neglected, there is no such thing as a father-in-law joke — until now:
Two fathers-in-law and a horse walk into a bar. Bartender says, "What'll you have?" Horse says, "A Haymaker for me and a couple of Half-and-Halfs for these guys — half old genes and half Old Spice."
TOOTLEOO!
31 Trapped like a rat quiz answer: (B) The colorfully attired piper marched all the rats not only away from Hamelin, but also right out of the month of July.
Coming next month: August! Write to Ron Wolfe at
rwolfe@arkansasonline.com
by July 15 to suggest August calendar entries or how to celebrate Aug. 1 as National Mountain Climbing Day, such as: Start small -- conquer a molehill. All entries require a web address and/or phone number that is answered during business hours.
Style on 07/02/2019