maplewood
Are you ready for ‘Let Them Eat Art,’ Maplewood’s nutty tribute to Bastille Day (July 14)? It happens the second weekend of the month and has been going on for 11 years already. You’re not? Well, nobody ever is really ready for this event. It’s like when they used to announce on Monty Python’s Flying Circus: “And now, for something completely different … ” Because it is. It’s not an art show—it’s a celebration of making and enjoying art and music in the shops and on the streets of one of the most wonderful places in the country. So step aside, Maplewood Township, New Jersey; Maplewood, Minnesota; Maplewood, Indiana; and all those other U.S. spots named Maplewood. Just west of the StL city line, along Manchester (a stretch of the old Route 66), this cornucopia of fun, from 6 to 11 p.m., spotlights anything and everything creative except, perhaps, a sword swallower. Enjoy live art demonstrations by regional artists, music, and food and drink by the ’Wood’s award-winning food purveyors. Be a part of the whimsical parade, which is for the sole purpose of kicking off the event with smiles and giggles … therefore, expect no award for ‘Most Complicated, Elaborate and Expensive Float.’ And, let there be tunes! The mainstage—the parking lot at Saratoga Lanes, 2731 Sutton Ave.—will feature the Gene Dobbs Bradford Blues Experience and Jeremiah Johnson Band, known for the rock ’n’ blues tune, ‘Call a Taxi’ (as heard on KDHX). There’ll be live music elsewhere around town, specifically Elliott Ranney, Saint Boogie Brass Band and Kecia Davis.
st. charles
While we’ve been waiting a few years for a trolley to get rolling in U. City, some have hit the bricks in St. Charles (pictured at top). Again. The vintage-looking vehicles, which roll on tires, not tracks, have been pressed back into service after being idle for about seven years. Back then, they were hungry for riders, but today, more tourists and convention-goers venture to the state’s first capital than ever before. Sponsored by the St. Charles CVB, rides are free of charge and make a loop every 28 to 40 minutes from two stops along the bricks of old Main Street, going to (but not necessarily in this order) the Mark Twain shopping center (home to Bass Pro Shops), Ameristar Casino Resort, the growing Streets of St. Charles entertainment and dining complex, and the city’s convention center. There are two vehicles in operation: the ‘Lewis’ trolley and the ‘Clark’ trolley. Lewis was temporarily out of service a few weeks ago because he had a frog in his throat. (So to speak. The PA system was being repaired.) Monday through Saturday, the trolleys run from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; on Sunday, quitting time is 7:30 p.m. Last call for ‘all aboard!’ will be Dec. 31, and it will start rolling again March 15 next year. The two drivers have fun with riders by providing details about key destinations along the way, perhaps even answering a few questions, such as: What was the first capital of Missouri?
university city
Mark your calendar for Sunday (July 16), official kickoff of the 17th annual Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase, a presentation by the nonprofit Cinema St. Louis, the metro’s primary venue for films made by local artists. The showcase screens works that were written, directed, edited or produced by St. Louis residents, or films with strong local ties. The 15-film programs that screen at the Tivoli in the U. City Loop through July 20 serve as the showcase’s centerpiece. The programs range from full-length fiction features and documentaries to compilations of fiction and documentary shorts. Many programs include postscreening Q&As with the filmmakers. There are 87 films in this year’s event. To whet appetites, here’s just a teaser of one documentary and one feature:
• Atomic Homefront: Oscar-nominated documentarian Rebecca Cammisa presents a sobering look at nuclear waste contamination in North County, focusing on West Lake, a toxic Bridgeton landfill. The film reveals the metro’s past as a uranium-processing center for the A-bomb and the governmental and corporate negligence that led to the illegal dumping of Manhattan Project radioactive waste into West Lake, a onetime quarry. An underground ‘fire’ has smoldered there for years, scarcely 1,000 feet from the radioactive waste. The film follows citizen advocates as they fight to keep their families safe by confronting state and federal agencies in pursuit of the truth about the contamination’s extent. (They were to have met with Scott Pruitt, our EPA director not too keen on protecting the environment, after the film debuted in D.C. last month.) West Lake has received the most publicity, but additional radioactive waste was secretly dumped at other sites north of the StL.
• Palacios: Bobby Herrera, a vet of the showcase and St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF), presents his first feature. Eugene, a black inner-city teen, escapes the streets and hides away on a Midwest city rooftop on the Fourth of July. He is discovered by Holly, a widowed alcoholic who lives in the secluded rooftop dwelling with her Boston terrier. They commit to spending the day together as they wait for a hopeful resolution to Eugene’s plight. As the day passes, a friendship grows even as their personal realities begin to catch up with them. The showcase also will host a free closing-night awards party on Thursday, July 20, at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room for film buffs 21 and older. Cinema St. Louis will announce the showcase films chosen for inclusion in SLIFF (which returns Nov. 2 through 17), and juried awards for the best showcase films will be given. Complimentary beer is supplied by Kräftig; cash bar for all other drinks.
Strauss Park, a triangular oasis in the Grand Center Arts District that got a $200,000 makeover last year, is hosting a dizzying variety of events and activities, from music to improv to yoga, for the remainder of this month through Aug. 30, six days a week. Mondays, you’ll just have to find something else exciting and fun to do for the rest of the summer … hold that thought! (Chess in the Park, presented by the World Chess Hall of Fame, will be presented every Monday at 3 p.m. Sorry, we just weren’t thinking three moves ahead.) Named the Strauss Park Alive Festival, the schedule includes almost any form of entertainment you can imagine, from aerialists to sand sculptures and a mandala … an intricate design, often of colorful sand, that its makers (typically Buddhist monks) painstakingly create, then destroy soon after it is finished. This mandala will be created using chalk. But, speaking of sand: Dan Belcher, sculptor renowned in the metro for the immense, whimsical sand castles he’s created at The Magic House in Kirkwood, will create two pieces over the next two months. What else is planned for Strauss Alive? Sorry, there will not be waterskiing. But there will be food trucks on Tuesdays and happy hours on Wednesdays, with Hiro Asian Kitchen offering ramen and other fusion foods.
glendale
Grace, who’s in her mid 20s and has Down Syndrome, decorates the bus stop near her home for every holiday. The handmade bench is for her safety while waiting for the bus (No. 56) to take her to work. On occasion, her dad gets into the spirit, too, by dressing up. On March 17, he was St. Patrick, crook and all, while Grace wore a leprechaun’s orange beard. And he’s been known to show up all fuzzy pink as the Easter Bunny. Dad is a very busy man—some would say important—as a federal prosecutor. But it appears that being a father is a more important role for him. Grace is fortunate, some would say blessed, to have this mensch as a dad. If you haven’t seen this whimsical landmark, it’s well worth a look. Who knows? You may yet be able to admire Grace’s display for Independence Day, which has been up most every year over the July 4th holiday. Grace’s Glendale Bus Stop (GGBS) is on Lockwood Avenue at Austin Place (west of Berry), on the north edge of Westborough Country Club. Now, if this is too far west of the Inner Belt for some of you, at least visit her Facebook page, which has been up since 2011. You can even watch her play a conga drum and sing in support of Journalism, the name of her brother Brendan’s band in New York. Drop by and give her a ‘like!’