By Roger Chambers
July 1 Canada Day
July 4 Independence Day, usually called
“4th of July”
July 13 Nathan Forrest’s Birthday,
Tennessee
July 14 Bastille Day, France
July 17 Luis Munoz Rivera’s Birthday,
Puerto Rico
July 24 Pioneer Day, Utah
July 25 Constitution Day, Puerto Rico
July 27 Barbosa’s Birthday, Puerto Rico
July 4, Independence Day, called the “4th of July” is the major summer holiday. In Utica, coinciding as it usually does with MWPAI Sidewalk Arts Festival and the Boilermaker nthe following week, July is a busy festival oriented month.
The Boilermaker is a defining moment in Utica’s events, part of an annual cycle of the activities related to a specific season. This year is the 40th annual event. it is a huge 15 kilometer road race with over 10,000 runners competing in a truly international yet community oriented activity.
July is typically a hot and humid month. A temperature of mid-eighties is normal and several days in the nineties are not unusual.
Three consecutive days over ninety degrees is considered a heat wave. When nights occasionally remain in the sixties or warmer, with high humidity, sleeping without air conditioning can be uneasy. The frequent thunderstorms, sometimes violent, led some indigenous people to call July the Full Thunder Moon.
For the gardener it is time to harvest garlic, maybe leeks and onions. There might be some lettuce, spinach, or chard left, and maybe early green beans. While the strawberries are likely about gone by the 4th, raspberries, blackberries, and currents last the month, in the garden, or some berries can be found in wild woodlands or fishing areas.
Annual flowers are blooming most of the summer, such as marigolds, dianthus or Sweet William, cosmos, petunias, and snap dragons. Perennials of lilies, roses, bee balm and lavender all bloom in July. Many of these provide some color and fragrance to brighten up the kitchen or living room.
Regional Festivals and Activities in July Many try to get away at various resorts
or state parks in the Adirondacks, Finger Lakes, Catskills, or the St. Lawrence region. Camping, boating, fishing, hiking, canoes and kayaks, and mountain biking are all activities with enthusiastic participants. Whether a long weekend or a full week, such regional natural areas can provide a welcome respite
from hectic urban / suburban life.
For those not able to get away, there are many regional fairs and festivals throughout
the month, many listed below. In addition,often weekly outdoor concerts of all kinds of music are held in Whitesboro, New York Mills, Ilion, Utica, Sherburne, Rome, Cooperstown, New Hartford, and other
communities.
July Regional Festivals and Events
June 27-July 2 MWPAI Arts Festival and Sidewalk Art Show, Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, Utica
July 9 Boilermaker 15 Kilometer Road Race, Utica
July 14-16 Bavarian Festival, Utica Maennerchor, Marcy
July 16-23 31st Annual Ilion Days
July 21 Doo-Dah Parade, Ilion
July 25-30 Boonville (Oneida County) Fair, Boonville
July 28-30 Great American Irish Festival, Herkimer County Fairgrounds, Frankfort
July 29 Honor America Days Parade and Symphony Concert, Rome
Weekends in July Renaissance Fair, Sterling
Wednesdays Saranac Wednesdays at the Savoy, Rome
Thursdays Saranac Thursdays, Varick St., Utica
Civic Band Concerts, Ilion, various locations
Fridays Boonville Concert Band, Boonville
In the Night Skies Mercury is an evening star during July, but very low on the eastern horizon shortly
after sunset. Venus, on the other hand is a morning star, rising about 3 a.m. On the 20th,
Venus, Aldebaran in Taurus, and the waning Crescent Moon provide an early morning
bright triangle. Saturn and the nearly Full Moon are in conjunction on July 6. The Full Buck Moon,
named for the appearance of deer horn, is on July 9. Alternative names for July’s Moon include Full Thunder Moon, as in July thunder storms are common, and occasionally severe. Full Hay Moon for the early hay harvest is another name.
Rising and Setting Times,
July 21 Sun Rises 5:41 a.m. Sets 8:33 p.m.
Moon Rises 3:38 a.m. Sets 6:57 p.m.
Mercury (evening star) Sets 9:45 p.m.
Venus (morning star) Rises 2:46 a.m.
Mars (not visible)
Jupiter Sets 11:44 p.m.
Saturn Sets 3:05 a.m.
July 9 Full Buck Moon
July 16. Last Quarter
July 23 New Moon
July 30. First Quarter Astrology
June 21 to July 22 Cancer, the Breast
July 23 to August 22 Leo, the Heart
