🌭 Hot Dogs, Spaceport, & Music Light Show

Happy Fourth of July Eve 🧨

July 03, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes

TODAY’S WIND DOWN BROUGHT TO YOU WITH

Happy Wednesday Afternoon, Neighbor!

And Happy Fourth of July Eve 🧨. We’re taking tomorrow off, and we hope you get to as well. But we will be back on Friday.

But, before that, today starts the Dog Days of Summer, at an utterly appropriate time as we head into another long block of oppressively and record-breakingly hot days. Cooling stations are back open as of today, and will remain open through July 10th, so if you need somewhere to cool off, get to one of these places. Just remember libraries are closed for the 4th, so don’t go there if your air-conditioner goes on the kaput tomorrow.

In today’s Summerlin City Wind Down:

  • Today's Happy Hours & Eats 🌭

  • Did You Know? ✨

  • Around the Valley 📍

  • Today's Events & Live Music 🎵

  • Staying In? Check Out These Awesome Things 👍

Let’s get to it. See you on the other side.

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TODAY’S HAPPY HOURS & EATS 🌭

Since it’s the day before Independence Day, one of the most traditionally grill-worthy days of the year, and this IS the official start of the Dog Days of Summer, we’re talking dogs - hot dogs. Namely, where you can get them, or some version of them, at Happy Hour.

There’s only a handful of places that serve Happy Hour dogs and only one of them serves a standard (surprisingly large for the money) hot dog. But the other two places offer versions of hot dogs, giving you some variety in case you’re already dogging up tomorrow.

When it comes to Happy Hour dogs, we simply have to give a tip of the cap to Echo & Rig, which serves up a full-size Happy Hour hot dog for $3. It’s even topped with mustard and kraut as a good dog should be, and actually tastes good.

But, if you don’t need your dog full-sized and traditional to find it satisfying, you can also get Mini Sonoran Dogs, which we’ve never tried, but sound delicious, at Hussong’s Cantina or Mini Corn Dogs with Fries at Lazy Dog.

Did You Know? ✨

The phrase "Dog Days of Summer" is tied to the stars.

While we might think the term “Dog Days” comes from the fact that this part of summer leaves many of us panting like dogs here on Earth, the origins of this phrase are far more celestial and go all the way back to ancient times when stargazing was serious business.

"Dog Days" refer to the period from early July to mid-August - July 3rd to August 11th to be exact - when the star Sirius, also known as the Dog Star, rises and sets with the sun. The brightest star in the constellation Canis Major, which itself is Latin for "Greater Dog," Sirius was a big deal to the ancient Egyptians, who associated its rising with the goddess Isis and her faithful dog. Its appearance in the sky each year signaled the flooding of the Nile, a crucial event that brought fertile soil and ensured a good harvest. So, as far as the Egyptians were concerned, the Dog Days of Summer were a time of abundance and celebration.

The Greeks and Romans, however, had a less optimistic take on Sirius’s companionship with the sun. They noticed the bright star’s rise coincided with the hottest time of the year and concluded that the added heat from Sirius, combined with the heat of the sun, was responsible for temperatures that dried out the land and made life generally more unbearable. It was the Greeks who named this period "the dog days" after Sirius.

But it was the Romans who took the concept a step further, associating these so-called Dog Days with lethargy, bad luck, and even madness. They believed the intense heat could drive both dogs and humans to a state of frenzy. Which, let’s be honest, sometimes doesn’t feel all that far from the truth.

So, good luck in these Dog Days of Summer. May the popsicles and shade be with you.

AROUND THE VALLEY 🚀

Here are some things Around the Valley we think might be of interest -

The Night the Lights Went Out in Vegas💡

As we prepare for fireworks to add even more lights to the city sky tomorrow night, it seems like a good time to talk about the night - well, the nights and nights and nights - the lights went out on in Vegas.

The year was 1973 and the U.S. was in the grips of an oil crisis. That meant 4x higher than average prices at the gas pumps, which kept many Americans from traveling by car and could mean disaster for Vegas tourism. (Among other places.)

So, what could Vegas casinos do to help lower gas prices? Conserve oil. Which meant shutting off the lights. So, that’s just what they did on November 15, 1973. They powered down the neon, and the neon remained powered down until the spring of 1974 when it came back on, but only on Friday and Saturday nights.

It wouldn’t be until nearly a year and a half later, in 1975, that The Strip was turned fully back on and Las Vegas was back in business as usual.

Las Vegas Spaceport 🚀 

Speaking of lights in the sky, did you know Las Vegas is trying to build a spaceport? I didn’t.

Tired of just seeing the rockets pass overhead, apparently, a group of Las Vegas investors want to get in on the rocket-launching action.

It’s gonna take a while - at first the Spaceport site will just be an airport - but the intentions are out there. And, perhaps, so are the 👽👽👽

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LOCAL EVENTS TO CHECK OUT 🎆

Ready to start celebrating the long weekend we hope you get to enjoy? There are fireworks over Las Vegas Ballpark again tonight (hopefully a little earlier than last night’s), a special patriotic sippy-sip, and Summerlin Sounds has a light show tonight.

  • Red Cross Blood Drive

    Rainbow Library

    3150 N Buffalo Dr

    Until 4:30 pm

  • Fresh52 Farmers & Artisan Market

    Bruce Trent Park

    1600 N Rampart Blvd

    2-8 pm

  • Yoga at the Library (There are still seats left!)

    Rainbow Library Meeting Room

    3150 N Buffalo Dr

    5-6 pm

    *BYO Yoga Mat & Water

    For more information, visit the library website

  • Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Bubbles American Style (Tasting Event)

    DB Wine & Spirits

    3330 S Hualapai Way

    5-7 pm

    More info here

  • Dr. AnnaMarie Lao Carley, MD: Forgotten Connection (Art Reception)

    Summerlin Library

    1771 Inner Circle Dr

    5:30-7 pm

    For more information, visit the library website

  • Summerlin Sounds (With Light Show!)

    Downtown Summerlin Lawn

    1825 Festival Plaza Dr

    6-9 pm

    Live Music, Light Show, Kids Activities, Specialty Drinks

  • Wednesday Evening Run Club

    lululemon

    1870 Festival Plaza Dr

    6 pm (Run/Walk Starts at 6:15 pm)

LIVE MUSIC

  • Lyte Bryte & Jase Naron - Top 40 (Summerlin Sounds)

    Downtown Summerlin Lawn

    1825 Festival Plaza Dr

    6-9 pm

  • Rick Kelly (Songs from the 60s and 70s)

    Grape Street CafĂŠ

    2120 Festival Plaza Dr

    6-9 pm

  • Second Echo Band

    Frankie’s Uptown

    1770 Festival Plaza Dr

    8-11 pm

  • Mark Giovi

    La Casa Cigar Lounge (Tivoli Village)

    430 S Rampart Blvd

    8:30 pm

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STAYING IN TONIGHT? CHECK OUT THESE AWESOME THINGS

We like staying home too! If you’re looking for an interesting way to fill your evening, these things might do the trick.

THANKS!

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- Riley and the Summerlin City Wind Down team