Yes, by gum, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein are correct “on account-a it’s June, June, June.” The pair’s second musical’s explicit words mark the halfway point to the calendar year as an ode to the appeal and splendor of summer’s approach. Cool mornings quickly burn away, followed by breezy afternoons and tranquil nights.
We sense it coming: “You can feel it in your heart, you can see it on the ground. You can see it in the trees, you can smell it in the breeze: June is bustin’ out all over!”
Here are our sunlit choices for shopping, dining and entertainment so that the sunshine sprinkles like powdered gold over grassy lawns and the Valley smells of roses:
3 Raise funds and your heart rate during the Heart & Stroke Assn. Walk at Mile High Stadium, June 2. There’s a 5K run-walk plus a 1-mile walk with End Zone yoga at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Information: 303-801-4852.
3 Celebrate Lowry Beer Garden’s free 6th Anniversary party to help fund the Lowry Foundation June 8, 5-9 p.m. Information: 303-366-0114.
3 Walk with Autism at Sloan’s Lake Park June 10, 10:15 a.m. Enjoy food, live band, youth activities and a resource fair. Information: 720-214-0794.
3 Watch free films at Monday Movie Madness on Glendale’s Infinity Park lawn June 11 and 25, 7:30 p.m. Information: moviesatinfinitypark.com.
3 Shop the Cherry Creek Fresh Market Saturdays now until Oct. 27, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. or Wednesdays June 14-Sept. 26, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. The market is in Cherry Creek Mall’s 1st and University lot. Information: 303-442-1837.
3 Treat dad to a very special Father’s Day dinner June 17 at the Monaco Inn Restaurant. Information: 303-320-1104. Or take dad to the first ever Father’s Day weekend Denver BBQ Fest at Mile High Stadium, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
3 Enjoy great outdoor parades, art, food and performances at the Juneteenth Music Festival at 27th and Welton St. June 16. Information: 720-505-3274.
3 View and vote for your favorite rose at the Denver Rose Society Show in Denver Botanic Gardens June 30, 1-5 p.m. Information: 720-865-3505.
3 Celebrate Japanese heritage and culture by enjoying live entertainment, food and drinks, plus a marketplace, exhibits and demonstrations during the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Sakura Square downtown June 23-24, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. until 4 p.m. Shop a selection of jewelry, pottery, fine art and apparel from the marketplace. Event is the largest fundraiser for the Tri-State-Denver Buddhist Temple. Information: 303-951-4486.
Brilliantly colored and bursting with vitality, the Valley’s outdoors is no longer in the freezer section. The parks, playgrounds and countryside are drawings, relief paintings and collages filled with a multitude of twisting lines, natural shapes and complex patterns. They contrast with infill developments that are bubbling up on neighborhood streets.
Yet we imagine buildings and urban design that doesn’t divide us, but rather fills cityscapes with star-studded structures that shine in splendor on clear nights in June.
Carousel’s fervor to tread in the gray areas of life make it the finest of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musicals. It succeeds because it has no easy answers, and it invites us into a world of uncertainty that can be upsetting. Our streets are bustin’ with buildings just as in the meadows, “Buds’re bustin’ outa bushes just because it’s June, June, June!
— Glen Richardson
The Valley Gadfly can be reached at newspaper@glendalecherrycreek.com.