DRAGON BOAT RACES: It's a perennial favorite -- the bright long boats and on-board drumming add to the pomp and drama -- and it returns to Long Beach each July with plenty of shoreside activities. Those activities include martial arts demos and music and crafts, but every visitor takes time to take in a race or two. We like the boats, yes, but the precision and speed of the people at the oars always impresses. At Marine Stadium on Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31
POGOPALOOZA: How were you on a pogo stick? We don't mean to assume you no longer pogo. Perhaps you do. Perhaps you're a pogo master, and you're at the level of the pogo-flipping stars set to bounce around the OC Fair from Thursday, July 28 through Saturday, July 30. But if it has been a year or twenty since you did the hoppity-hop, be prepared for some astounding advances in pogothletics. Which Google tells us is not a real word, but we think pogo + athletics certainly applies here.
B MOVIES AND BAD SCIENCE: The people at the Page Museum and Natural History Museum have a great sense of humor. Yes, they're dedicated in a serious way to study, but come Saturday night they're ready to kick it up. So they're running free flicks at the tar pits on Saturday nights through the end of August. A scientist will also speak. The film on Saturday, July 30 is "Dinosaurus!" You know dinos are not associated with our pits? This is why we love the Pagers. Sense of humor. Bravo, and roar, and all that.
OXNARD SALSA FESTIVAL: Music and dance and food all get feted at this weekend-long free fest. Can you make time for all three on Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31? We hope. Can you make salsa many different ways? Of course. Should it always rely heavily on cilantro? That's our vote, but we're open to other varieties. Bet you'll try a few, too.
MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES: Stan Lee's at the Aero (no word if he's swinging down via hand webs from the vintage theater's famous sign); the first two Spideys will play, too. That's on Saturday, July 30. And it is the final weekend for the free Old Pasadena Film Festival. How can various free movie fests be wrapping up already? Summer, don't go.
