June Calendar

June: Tomatoes, films al fresco, flags, dads and the start of summer

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette June illustration.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette June illustration.

June is the month when father gets his due, or at least he gets another necktie. June comes served on the half-shell with doughnuts and greens. June is dropped off a skyscraper to see if this first month of summer will bounce or bust out all over.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette June illustration.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette June illustration.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette June illustration.

1 National Rivers Month, International Surf Music Month: Fun, fun, fun 'til her daddy takes the tugboat away.

SITES TO SEE

Mystic Creatures topiary exhibits through August at Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs. Details at garvangardens.org. Call (501) 262-9300.

"The Simple Pleasures of Still Life" exhibition through Sept. 14 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville. Details at crystalbridges.org. Call (479) 418-5700.

DOWNSTAIRS ABBEY

Church Basement Ladies comedy A Mighty Fortress Is Our Basement through June 20 at Murry's Dinner Playhouse, Little Rock. Details at murrysdp.com. Call (501) 562-3131.

POPPA SANG BASS

2 Fishing Week.

"I have laid aside business and gone a'fishing." -- Izaak Walton

GOT A GRIP

3 National Accordion Awareness Month, International Men's Month, June Dairy Month -- and three men known as great squeezers.

• Lawrence Welk.

• "Weird Al" Yankovic.

• Old MacDonald

SCREEN SAVORS

Movies in the Park free film series opens with Divergent at sundown at First Security Amphitheater in Little Rock's River Market District. Season continues Wednesday nights with Ghostbusters on June 10, The Proposal June 17, Oz the Great and Powerful June 24, more through July. Details at moviesintheparklr.net. Call (501) 375-2552.

SUPERMAN'S FAVORITE MONTH

4 How to celebrate Skyscraper Month: in a single bound.

HOLE EVERYTHING

5 National Doughnut Day: Happy glazed are here again.

SOUTHERN VOICE

Country singer Tim McGraw, 7 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.

PLAYS UP

Pulitzer Prize-winning drama August: Osage County through June 21 at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Little Rock. Details at therep.org. Call (501) 378-0405.

9 to 5: The Musical through June 7, 11-14 and 18-21 at The Studio Theatre, Little Rock. Details at ctlr-act.org. Call (501) 410-2283.

STRING THEORY

6 Yo-yo Day -- a day of ups and downs.

My loop-the-loop, my breakaway

My yo-yo skills unfurled;

My hop-the-fence, my waterfall.

And so the pellet whirled;

I only meant to walk the dog,

But went around the world.

HAIR OF THE DOG

Brews and Barks: dogs, agility dog demonstrations, dogs for adoption, hot dogs and beer, 2-6 p.m. at Diamond Bear Brewing Co., North Little Rock, benefits the Humane Society of Pulaski County. Details at warmhearts.org. Call (501) 590-7361.

TICKET TO RIDE

Tour De Rock bicycle rides benefit CARTI (formerly Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute). Details at carti.com. Call (800) 482-8561.

BUTTONS AND BEAU'S

7 English dandy Beau Brummell's birthday, 1778. The 17th-century arbiter of men's fashion is to blame for today's: (A) beards, (B) Star Wars boxer shorts, or (C) neckties.

Answer at June 17.

SOUTHERN LIVING

Scott Connections spring dinner and silent auction, 5-8 p.m. at a home on Bearskin Lake, Scott. Details at scottconnections.org. Call (501) 351-5737.

TRUE GRITS

8 National Soul Food Month theme song: "For Every Season, Turnip, Turnip, Turnip."

WEBBED FEAT

9 Donald Duck's 81st birthday, and words of wisdom from the long-lived quacker:

• "Awk, bwah! Awk, bwah!" ("Oh, boy! Oh, boy!")

• "Kuffonk." (C'mon.)

• "Wak!" ("It is difficult to believe that spring, so long in coming, is almost over.")

TALL ORDER

10 Iced Tea Day. Sweet or unsweet? In the South, unsweet is the glass only half full of sugar.

CHARDONNAY HIP-HOORAY

11 Art of Wine Festival through June 13 at Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. Details at waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 443-5600.

CROP CIRCLES

12 Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival and tomato-eating through June 13, Warren. Details at bradleypinktomato.com. Call (870) 226-5225.

Wynne Farm Fest and Delta Smoke BBQ through June 13. Details at crosscountychamber.com. Call (870) 238-2601.

FLAG ON THE FIELD

13 Little Rock Wind Symphony Stars and Stripes Celebration outdoor concert, 7-8:30 p.m. at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, Little Rock. Details at arkmilitaryheritage.com. Call (501) 376-4602.

BY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT

14 Flag Day.

WHAT TO GIVE THE STATE THAT HAS EVERYTHING?

15 Arkansas' 179th birthday. Arkansas became the nation's 25th state in 1836.

HEAPS OF FUN

16 Car Show and Swap Meet through June 20 at the Museum of Automobiles on Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton. Details at motaa.com. Call (501) 727-5427.

HARD TO CARROT ALL

17 Eat Your Vegetables Day.

NECK-AND-NECK

Dress-up quiz answer: (C) neckties. Brummell insisted the well-dressed man should wear a cravat, a kind of scarf wrapped around his neck. The cravat helped hide the gentleman's stained shirt. Also, it made a gent feel protected in case somebody tried to hack his head off. From this, by some accounts, came the useless necktie.

BACK AT THE SPREAD

18 National Quilting Association Quilt Show through June 20 at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock. Details at nqaquilts.org. Call (614) 488-8520.

OIL'S WELL THAT TENDS WELL

Smackover Oil Town Festival and rod-wrenching contest through June 20 in Smackover, near El Dorado. Details at smackoverar.com. Call (870) 725-3521.

PLAYS THE THING

TheatreSquared's Arkansas New Play Festival of five plays June 18-28, and Arkansas Young Playwrights Showcase June 27 at the Nadine Baum Studios, Fayetteville. Plays include Mark Shanahan's off-Broadway-bound farce, The Dingdong: Or, How the French Kiss. Details at theatre2.org. Call (479) 443-5600.

GAIT'S WIDE OPEN

19 World Sauntering Day. To saunter is to stroll in a leisurely way -- like to mosey without the corral -- to promenade without the square dance -- to traipse without the flowers that bloom in spring -- to amble without a fishing pole -- to walk against the light.

ARIAS R US

Opera in the Ozarks through July 17 at Inspiration Point Fine Arts Center, Eureka Springs, and Arend Arts Center, Bentonville. Performances include The Tales of Hoffmann, La Traviata and La Cenerentola (Cinderella). Details at opera.org. Call (479) 253-8595.

OH SOL MIO

20 Summer Solstice Celebration, 5-8:30 p.m. at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park near Scott. Call (501) 961-9442.

OFF TO SEE THE GIZMO

TinkerFest with 50 stations for inventors of all ages to fiddle with technology, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at Mid-America Science Museum, Hot Springs. Details at midamericamuseum.org. Call (501) 767-3461.

WHEELING DEALING

West Virginia admission day, 1863. West Virginia admits it's hard to live by the "Code of the West" when you're not west of anything but Maryland.

COLOR COMMENTARY

Black & Brown Comedy Get-Down with Cedric The Entertainer, Mike Epps, Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley, George Lopez and Charlie Murphy, 8 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.

Juneteenth block party, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. around the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Little Rock. Details at mosaictemplarscenter.com. Call (501) 683-3620.

BOYS OF SLUMBER

21 First day of summer -- and Father's Day, when dad gets what he really wants: to sleep in.

CRAB, CRAB, CRAB

22 CANCER (June 22-July 22): Is today your birthday? Might as well be hard-shelled about it. Here's to a day so impossibly terrific, you want to pinch yourself. You share this undersea adventure with fellow crustaceans Meryl Streep (66) and Cyndi Lauper (62), born June 22, and Gary Busey (71), June 29.

DRIPSTONE TRAIL

23 The birthstone for June comes from the crab-crawling sea, namely (A) coral from a reef, (B) pearl from an oyster, or (C) bauxite from Barnacle Bill.

Answer at June 29.

NOO MOO

24 Dairy Alternatives Month.

"The beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad. " -- Kris Kristofferson.

Documentary The Strange History of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. Details at arkmilitaryheritage.com. Call (501) 376-4602.

MESSAGE MASSAGE

25 Effective Commmunications Month. Correction: Effffective Communications Mouth. Correction: Defective Clarifications Month.

BARK BACK AT THE BOSS

26 Take Your Dog to Work Day.

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

Malvern Brickfest through June 27. Details at malvernbrickfest.com. Call (870) 458-1115.

SHELL GAMES

27 PurpleHull Pea Festival, pea-shelling and World Championship Rotary Tiller Race, Emerson. Details at purplehull.com. Call (501) 416-4657.

NET PROPHETS

Mount Magazine International Butterfly Festival, Paris. Details at parisaronline.com. Call (479) 963-2244.

BLAZING SADDLE CAKE

28 Mel Brooks' 89th birthday en route to becoming the 2,000-year-old man.

OYSTER ROISTER

29 Mollusk mollycoddling quiz answer: (B) oyster -- source of the pearl that mollifies the maiden of the month.

LIFE IS THE ULTIMATE

DO-IT-YOURSELF PROJECT

30 Last day of Rebuild Your Life Month, and time to downscale from total remodeling to maybe a new throw rug.

Coming with a bang next month: July! Call (501) 399-3633, write to Ron Wolfe, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 121 E. Capitol Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or email

[email protected]

by June 15 to suggest July calendar entries or how to celebrate July as National Hot Dog Month, such as: with mustard and pickles in a bun in a messy wrapper in a ballpark in the heat in the spirit of 1776, but not in the mosquitoes. 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 05/26/2015

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