AUGUST CALENDAR: It's a fruitful time in Arkansas

While Mother Nature threatens a statewide flambe, festivals beckon with cooling treats

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette main calendar Illustration
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette main calendar Illustration

August is the month of watermelons, water balloons and, most of all, water meters -- and nary a raindrop to sprinkle the charred remains of the lawn. September brings the cool relief of fall. August brings the idea that maybe winter isn't such a bad idea after all.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette watermelon juice illustration

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette watermelon cannon Illustration

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette fish illustration

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette watermelon run illustration

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette August bowl illustration

1 Moby-Dick author Herman Melville's birthday, 1819; Romance Awareness Month, National Picnic Month. A whale of a book, a hot look that took, a bite by the brook.

YANKEE BOODLE

"American Made: Treasures From the American Folk Art Museum" exhibit through Sept. 19 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville. Details at crystalbridges.org. Call (479) 418-5700.

TWO-CENTS WORTH

2 United States mints the first Lincoln penny, 1909, two years after the invention of the gumball machine. People had been standing around gumball machines all that time, trying to get the machine to take a quarter.

SEED THE SIGHTS

3 National Watermelon Day. A lemon drop is lemon, and a chocolate drop is chocolate, but a watermelon drop is a bath.

JOLLY 'OLIDAY WITH MARY

4 Mary Poppins through Aug. 7 and Aug. 11-14 at Arkansas Public Theatre, Rogers. Details at arkansaspublictheatre.org. Call (479) 631-8988.

VIEWS IN THE NEWS

5 "Jon Schueler: Weathering Skies" exhibit, abstract paintings of the sky by the B-17 navigator-turned-artist, through Oct. 23 at Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Details at arkansasartscenter.org. Call (501) 372-4000.

Eureka Springs Human Rights Art and Film Fest through Aug. 6 at The Auditorium, Eureka Springs. Details at esfilmfest.org. Call (479) 244-6636.

HOT DOG, HOT ROD

6 National Mustard Day, Traffic Awareness Month. And how to get there: Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

LET HIM EXPLAIN

Comedian Kevin Hart, 8 p.m. at Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion, Rogers. Details at tickets.waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 443-5600.

GOODNESS BRACES

7 How to celebrate National Smile Week: Grin and wear it.

FOR WHOM THE BLUEBELLS TOLL

8 The drooping flower for this withering hot month of August is: (A) bygone begonia, (B) poached poppy, or (C) has-been jasmine.

Answer at Aug. 28.

CATAWBA COWABUNGA

9 Tontitown Grape Festival through Aug. 13 near Fayetteville. Carnival, grape ice cream and spaghetti dinners, Aug. 11-13. Details at tontitowngrapefestival.com. Call (479) 361-2615.

MULE-HEADED

10 Missouri Admission Day, 1821. Missouri admits the state animal, the mule, isn't really stubborn -- just slow to answer email.

PRETTY IN PINK

11 Hope Watermelon Festival, claiming the state's largest watermelons, through Aug. 13, Hope. Details at hopechamberofcommerce.com. Call (870) 777-3640.

YELLOW PAGES

Cave City Watermelon Festival, claiming the world's sweetest watermelons, through Aug. 13, Cave City. Details at cavecitywatermelonfestival.com. Call (870) 283-5301.

ROAD SHOWS

Bargains Galore on 64 through Aug. 13, yard sale and flea markets along 160 miles of U.S. 64 between Fort Smith and Beebe. Details at bargainsgaloreon64.org.

HOUSE PARTY

Royal Players comedy, You Can't Take It With You, through Aug. 14 and Aug. 18-21 at The Royal Theatre, Benton. Details at theroyalplayers.com. Call (501) 315-5483.

BETTER A SHOWER THAN A TUB

12 Meteor Shower Mania, 9 p.m. Aug. 12 and 13, Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock, viewing of the Perseid meteor shower from the middle of Lake Maumelle. Details at arkansas.com. Call (501) 868-5806.

JUICED UP

13 Watermelon 5K run, an Arkansas Grand Prix race, at 7:30 a.m. from watermelon-soaked Fair Park, Hope. Details at arkrrca.com.

DOLLY WOULD

Dolly Parton, 7:30 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.

ON AN AISLE WITH YOU

14 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Fall Bridal Show, 12:30-5 p.m. at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock. Details at arkansasbridalcommunity.com. Call (501) 378-3807.

PIT AND THE PENDULOUS

15 Peach Month -- when fuzzy thinking leads to a jam, and it's all good.

DEFEND THE DEFRIENDED

16 How to celebrate Friendship Week: Forgive and restore Facebook acquaintances to full-friend status, because even rambling lunatics have cute cats.

HEAVENS TO OLD BETSY

17 Davy Crockett's birthday, 1786.

"If I could rest anywhere, it would be in Arkansas." -- Crockett on the occasion of a banquet held for him in Little Rock in 1835, according to the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture.

The famous Tennessean found himself in like company among men "of the real half-horse, half-alligator breed." But he was on his way to the Alamo.

MEMPHIS STYLE

Arkansas neighbor Tennessee Admission Day, 1796. Tennessee admits Davy Crockett wasn't really half horse, half alligator, but more like three-fourths alligator and quarter horse.

HARLEY DAVI-SONGS

18 Mountains, Music and Motorcycles and car show through Aug. 21, Mountain View. Details at yourplaceinthemountains.com. Call (870) 269-8068.

HANGaRS ON

19 Aviation Day -- grounded due to slow security lines.

HERD IT THROUGH THE BOVINE

20 Buckin' in the Ozarks professional bull riding at Parsons Stadium, Springdale. Details at rodeooftheozarks.org. Call (479) 756-0464.

POI BOYS MAKE GOOD

21 Hawaii Admission Day, 1959. Hawaii admits that wahine used to mean a beautiful surfer girl, but today's feminism corrects the definition to woman on the board.

IFS, ANDS AND PUTTS

22 National Golf Month, and additions to the rule book:

• Golf is more than a game of "birdies" and "eagles." When a player takes so long to putt that all the other players behind him think they're going to die, that person scores a "buzzard."

• A "plunk" is when the ball lies at the edge of a water hazard. A "ker-plunk" is when the golfer slips and falls in. A plank is what it takes to fetch him out of the frog pond.

• A "flop shot" goes high. A "flub shout" goes to the farthest-flung nine-iron.

LITTLE NIPPERS PUT THE BITE ON

Tooth Fairy Day. Santa Claus comes down the chimney, the Easter Bunny arrives via the Bunny Trail -- but how'd this gal get in? Through the gap in a smile.

NEATNESS COUNTS

23 VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Is today your birthday? If so, it's time to come clean, and nobody cleans like a nitpicky Virgo. Virgos sofa-cover the sofa covers. Virgos spend so much on dust rags and furniture polish they need a fuss budget. Pick up the place with fellow Swiffer swingers Beyonce, 35 on Sept. 4, and Bernie Sanders, 75 on Sept. 8.

EVERYBODY LOVES A LAVA

24 Vesuvius Day remembers the little volcano that could.

MUTT-MOST EFFORT

25 National Dog Day is Aug. 26, but it wants out now-now-now.

CHOO-CHOO ADO

26 Frisco Festival through Aug. 27, Rogers, toots the town's railroad heritage. Details at mainstreetrogers.com. Call (479) 936-5487.

SMILE PARDNERS

Comedians Cowboy Bill Martin and Chad Prather, 8 p.m. Aug. 26 and 27 at Argenta Community Theater, North Little Rock. Details at kingsofcowtown.com.

WET, YOU GET

27 White River Water Carnival, Batesville. Details at mybatesville.org. Call (870) 793-2378.

Water Quality Month. An optimist sees the glass half full -- or in Flint, Mich., half foul.

DOWNTOWN GIRL

Singer and actress Jana Kramer (One Tree Hill), 7 p.m., Union Square in downtown El Dorado. Details at mainstreeteldorado.org. Call (870) 862-4747.

LOOK WHAT POPPED UP

28 Too dry to thistle quiz answer: (B) poached poppy, the little red flower that symbolizes sleep. But a better symbol of summertime drowsiness in the South is the poohed-out pooch on the porch -- a parched puppy.

COME TOGETHER

29 Family Fun Month -- a great day to make family fun plans around the dinner table, except nobody is home for dinner.

MONSTER BASH

30 Frankenstein Day makes monster best-seller author Mary Shelley's birthday, 1797, come alive.

EMAIL THINKS THIS MAY BE SPAM

31 Monty Python's Spamalot through Oct. 2 at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Little Rock. Details at therep.org. Call (501) 378-0405.

DAME OF THRONES

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands' birthday, 1880. Arkansas' Queen Wilhelmina State Park near Mena is named for her highness. But she never left her throne to visit Arkansas for fear that if she got up, the Lannisters would steal the seat.

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

[email protected]

by Aug. 15 to suggest September calendar entries or how to celebrate September as Better Breakfast Month, such as: Awaken to bacon. Let flow the cuppa Joe. Toast the toast. 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 07/26/2016

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