Starting at Brickhouse Bar & Grill, the event was especially interesting when it featured new businesses. What a selection! From a pole dancing studio to Bad Monkey Bikes, a barber shop (Moe’s) to the newly renovated Kiggins Theater, a karate studio to Arnada Naturals and Music with Miss Mindi, new shops were interspersed with old favorites like Tommy O’s and Urban Eccentric.

By the end of the evening, $15,000 was raised for the Hough Elementary School Family Resource Center, which provides a clothes closet, snacks, school supplies, an after school music program and volunteer support for students and teachers.

Here are a few photo highlights of Sip & Stroll:

Kristin from Small Vineyards at Niche Wine Bar

Beer Tasting at Most Everything

Alisa Tetreault, Owner of Most Everything

Linda Lee and friend at Linda Lee's Lingerie & Pole 4 Fun

Paul Montegue at Moe's

English Estates at Neighbors Market

Lynn Krogseng, Owner of Neighbors Market

The Cat's Pajamas on Broadway

Tasting at Cat's Pajamas

Sweets at Not Too Shabby

Benke Cellars at Mint Tea

Miss Mindi of Music with Miss Mindi

Music at Vancouver Pizza

Dennis Pfendler, Owner of Uptown Karate

Sipper and Stroller on a Jungle Couch

Too much to drink? Time to go home...

Can it really be the second half of the year? Where did the first half go? Now that the weather is drier and warmer (we hope), there are LOTS of opportunities to celebrate the summer. Here are a few to consider for the FIVE weekends in July:

July 4 - There are WAY too many events happening to cover the 4th of July celebrations. Vancouver is famous for its massive 4th at the Fort. Just about every Southwest Washington community has an event. Pick one!

Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts

July 8-9 – North Bonneville Gorge Days Head out SR14 to North Bonneville for a Friday Night Sock Hop, Hot Rod Cruise and BBQ. Saturday features a Pancake Breakfast and is followed by a full day of food, arts & crafts and a free concert in the park featuring Johnny Limbo & The Lugnuts.

July 8-10 – Amboy Territorial Days Celebration – Three days of everything from pancake breakfasts to lawn mower races to a community parade to a logging show and more. Visit the Web site for a complete schedule.

July 9th – Magenta Improv Theater (MIT) presents its own version of “Whose Line is it Anyway…” This downtown Vancouver theater group really knows how to have fun with family-friendly events.

July 15-17 – Battle Ground Harvest Days - The event features a parade, lawnmower races, carnival rides, a beer garden, a root beer garden, musical entertainment, dances, bingo, talent show, chili cooking contest, ballroom fest, food. What more could you want?

Hot rods and classic cars line Main Street

July 16 – Cruisin’ the Gut – Classic cars and their passionate drivers cruise from the Dairy Queen in Uptown Village to 6th and Main in Downtown. Take a lawn chair and stake out a viewing point along the route.

July 16 – “Nights in White Salmon” Art and Wine Fusion – Downtown White Salmon will be transformed into a car-free, lively Street Fair with artists, local wines and beers, kid friendship activities, a salmon cook-off, five regional bands and lots of shops and galleries.

Trout Lake Festival of the Arts - Photo by Kira Fogerty

July 16 – 17 – Trout Lake Festival of the Arts - Fifty-five artists are jury selected to display fine art in the rustic barn, outdoors, or garden setting. In addition to the art, visitors enjoy continuous live music, an outstanding variety of foods, local brews and wine. There is no admission fee and plenty of free parking. And Mt. Adams will provide a stunning back drop!

The new Vancouver Community Library photo © 2011 Benjamin Benschneider All rights Reserved.

July 17 – Grand Opening of the Vancouver Community Library - Be still, my heart, our new Vancouver Community Library is opening! The event starts with speeches at 1 p.m., following by the ribbon cutting at about 1:40 p.m. and a fabulous library to explore, including an amazing 4,000 sf Early Learning Center, until 6 p.m. This is a WONDERFUL addition to downtown Vancouver and will be open seven days a week!

July 20-24 - SandSations Sand Sculpture Contest - Long Beach. Free lessons on Friday followed by a beach bonfire. Four hours of sculpting on Saturday.

July 22-23 – Camas Days – Games for kids, arts and crafts booths, and the famous Wine & Microbrew Street with live, musical entertainment.

July 23 – Sip and Stroll – This great walking wine tour will feature local wineries and microbrews, served in the shops of Uptown Village. Hough Foundation is the beneficiary. Fun event!

July 28-30 – Ho`ike and Hawaiian Festival - “Three days of aloha,” sponsored by Ke Kukui Foundation. A special performance of the historical drama”Ka Lei Maile Ali`i: The Queen’s Women” will be offered at 10am. Thousands attend this colorful festival for the Hapa Haole music, competitions, dancing, food and more.

Girls rule the roost on the Coop du Jour Tour

When I was a kid, chickens lived in barnyards. I was in awe of my grandmother’s fearlessness as she entered her long, white hen house and reached under each angry hen to snatch her egg. Those beaks looked mighty scary to me.

Looking back, I can’t imagine what it was like to have the 150 Rhode Island Reds and White Leghorns, which she tended to every day. That is a LOT of eggs! Combine that with multiple crowing roosters and we’re talking serious (and noisy) poultry.

Pondering the age-old question: Which came first?

The Wall Street Journal reported about the urban chicken trend on July 8, article here. Now chickens enjoy city backyards and Vancouver is no exception. We love our chickens!

Roosters are forbidden in our city limits (thank you, City of Vancouver!) but hens are doing quite well. In fact, the chickens will be queens for the day on July 17 at the Coop du Jour Tour, which will allow us to look into their castles. A fundraiser for the Hough Foundation, the self-guided tour will feature chicken coops of various designs in Vancouver’s Uptown Village neighborhoods. The tour will be held from Noon to 4 pm.

I had the opportunity to preview one of the coops in June. “Coop” is WAY too weak of a word. This was nothing like my grandmother’s utilitarian hen house. The Mowats have created a stylish home for their brood in the Hough Neighborhood and will be part of the tour.

Much More than a 'Coop'

A Condo for Hens

My neighbors Caitlyn and Jerrad are inspiring new chicken owners. They have creatively transformed their daughter’s play structure into a handy coop, while preserving the swings, upper deck and slide for play. They will explain their architectural wonder during the tour. Frank Lloyd Wright would be proud.

Play Structure or Chicken Coop? It's Both!

Buy your tickets now for the Coop du Jour. They are available at Arnada Naturals and Mint Tea in advance (Only $10 per family) or on the day of the event. More info about the tour is here.

Grandma Moses reputedly said that if she hadn’t been a painter, she would have raised chickens. She would have enjoyed the Coop du Jour.

Vancouver’s Uptown Village feels like a small town center with way more to see, do and eat than 36 hours allows. But we tried to squeeze in a LOT during a HOT July weekend. Just a few blocks from our home, this historic business district of shops, restaurants, bars and a fine local museum is a great way to spend time. Out of towners will find the Briar Rose Inn within walking distance.

Friday Night
6 p.m. Dinner at Mint Tea (2014 Main). It’s 90 degrees plus but fortunately Mint Tea’s wide front porch is on the shady side of the restaurant. We order coconut-poached Wild Alaska Salmon with curried potatoes and garden veggies and Morrocan fresh vegetables on millet pilaf which are served with fabulous chilled mango raspberry and creamed asparagus soups, each with a stunning surface design. It’s too hot for wine, although Mint Tea serves one of my favorite local wineries – Benke Cellars (of Felida) but the hot basil mint tea (with dessert cookies) is surprisingly cooling. Owned by Abdul Akdi and Jenna Eckert, this restaurant and import store is a thorough gem.

7:30 p.m. Just down the street, Pop Culture (formerly Moxie’s on Main) (1929 Main), the band is blaring for a young crowd. This non-alcoholic club carries 300 kinds of sodas including my favorite – HotLips Raspberry Soda.

Saturday
9 a.m. The neighborhood is starting to wake up. A vociferous boxer (dog, not a pugilist) is discouraging us from entering the Tip Top Tavern but no matter because we are heading for crepes at Mon Ami (1906 Main) A few earlybirds are hooked into their wifi and caffeine while we order one savory crepe – vegetarian with smoked Swiss cheese, baby spinach and tomatoes with a mixed green salad and a sweet crepe— peanut butter, banana, honey and cinnamon and what has to be the strongest (translate: really good) cups of house coffee in the Village. The outside patio is a perfect place to read the paper and observe the awakening street.

10 a.m. Up the street, Old Glory Antique Mall (2000 Main) opens. Fifty antique dealers operate individual booths in a packed 6,000 sq. foot shop. I find a pair of adjustable, metal roller skates that attach to your shoes and understand why I never mastered them as a child. I don’t buy them. Too many bruises and bad memories. The store, however, is filled with collectibles and enough tea pots and blue and white china to satisfy my interests.

10:30 a.m. Molly and Gabe, last names unknown, are hawking Molly’s charming bracelets. At 15, they can’t find summer jobs so they are taking Molly’s talents to the streets. I buy a well-designed bracelet with navy and white porcelain beads for only $5, their first sale of the day. Across the street, the Discovery Shop (2010 Main) offers great deals on clothing and household goods. Proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.

1 p.m. ecolution nw (1709 Broadway) Eco-friendly flooring, tiles, various gorgeous countertops made from recycled glass, newspapers and cement and other environmental products are available in Uptown Village at ecolution nw. Heidi Olsen and Dan Plaza have recently opened their sales and installation shop and also consult on construction and decorating projects.

2 p.m. Clark County Historical Museum (1511 Main Street) the past lives on Main Street at the Clark County Historical Museum. Housed in a former Carnegie Library, permanent exhibits include a 1900s doctor’s office, home kitchen and country store, and astonishing Native American baskets. An exhibit on Women’s Suffrage in Washington (July-December 2009) illustrates the struggle for the vote for women starting in 1848 at Seneca Falls NY, continuing to 1854 when women’s suffrage legislation was defeated (by one vote, 8-9) at the first session of the Washington Territorial Legislature to current day to 2005 when Washington State became the first state to have a woman governor and two US senators. The Boomer Exhibit continues through the end of the year. Artifacts range from assorted toys and political buttons to commercials from the 1940’s-1960’s and leisure suits. The museum, which has a research library, also offers Lillian Pitt jewelry and masks for sale.

2:30 p.m. One World Merchants (2315 Main) David Schmitz and Elizabeth Halili own my dream business – an import store. Their products are primarily from Southeast Asia and India plus creations of local artists. They love to travel so, when the former Country Peddler shop vacated their space, they started a store that reflects their interests. Even their dog looks happy as he naps on a stack of imported rugs. Scarves, wall hangings, bags, clothing, jewelry, furniture – I could drop a lot of money in here.

4 p.m. Ice Cream Renaissance (2108 Main) I order my favorite – Officers Row with five scoops of ICR handmade ice cream (Coffee Addict’s Choice, Coconut Luau, Honey Vanilla, Peanut Butter Blitz and Strawberries and Cream). Our friend, Kelly, controls her calories with a coffee with ice cream in it. Gary gets a decadent banana split. Life is good (and fattening).

8 p.m. Main Street from 39th Street to Mill Plain is literally crawling with classic cars and their fans who have turned out “Cruise the Gut.” The street is lined with families sitting in lawn chairs and on blankets. The teens who cruised the gut in Vancouver’s past now have gray hair, expensive collector’s cars are loving to show off their classic autos. “There goes another car I shouldn’t have sold,” my husband laments for the fifth time. Most of the autos are from the 1940s-1960s. A couple of pickups have flame throwers on the back. Interesting! Safe? Haven’t a clue.

Miraculously, we score a front patio table at La Bottega (1905 Main) where we ogle Detroit’s oldest and finest and consume the small plate versions of Smoked Mushroom Ravioli with a Baby Spinach Salad with chevre, beets and spiced pecans salad, Bucatini Marinara with a Fresh Fig Salad with Greens and plenty of the red wine special for the evening—a Marchesi di Barolo Barbera. Fortunately, we are on foot so we can saunter home past the cruising cars and the crowd that has amassed at Dairy Queen, the gathering place for cruising in the 1970s. The Columbian estimates that the event drew 1,200 cars and 5,000 onlookers.

Sunday
9 a.m. Still recovering from last night’s dinner, we tough it out for one last meal. At Dulin’s (1708 Main) we slide into a booth behind the celebrity diner of the morning, John McDonagh, Publisher of the Vancouver Business Journal. He’s eating a healthy bowl of oatmeal whereas we cut loose with my favorite, the Vegetarian Killarney Special with potatoes, spicy black beans, Tillamook cheddar, salsa fresco and sour cream and an El Paso Omelette with black beans, avocado and sour cream.

There are so many more Uptown Village shops to visit and meals to consume like at Provecho (1801 Main) with its tasty Mexican food and a new pub with Guinness to try down the street. What about the Main Street fudge? And a winery is opening in September at Cellar 55 (1812 Washington) The list goes on…for another time and another 36 hours.