Free: Bergamot Station Summer Celebration

Ice cream paintings, Hula Hoop performances, and artistic revelries festoon the Santa Monica party.

Your first yawn-and-stretch on a Saturday morning, should the day ahead of you be open and unplanned, can be a satisfying one. Will you go for a walk? Will you play with your cat? Will you rent a movie or finish that book?

Or will you observe a Hula Hoop performance, admire ice cream paintings, learn how to paint a flower, and take in some live tunes at a clutch of Santa Monica galleries known for exciting, provocative, brain-pleasing, spirit-raising exhibits?

That's a long wake-up stretch, if you thought all that in one thought, but now that you're well-limbered-up, ponder a visit to Bergamot Station's Summer Celebration, a free, as in pay-nothing, happening that boasts a number of activities, and art-amazing things to see, on its five-hour schedule.

Well, let's quickly asterisk that "pay-nothing" part: There shall be food trucks, including the India Jones Chow Truck and The Grilled Cheese Truck, so, to stay fortified for all of that painting-admiring, you'll want money to nosh around. An ice cream cart and craft beer will also be about for those craving sweets or suds, and the Bergamot Café will be open, too.

Beyond the workshops, artist talks, documentary screenings, books sales, frame sales, dancers dancing before your eyes, and the musicians playing a host of ear-satisfying notes?

There are galleries to wander, many of them, which you likely know, given Bergamot Station's long-time reputation as one of our region's gallery-plentiful go-to spots for strolling, looking, and thinking deep thoughts.

Hours? Stretch one more time, then round up your art-obsessed brood: It's all on from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 22. And, yep, for sure: "Family friendly" is one of the themes of the day, so if the tots are totally into the creative spirit, as kids so often and admirably are, they should attend as well.

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