• Elliott Bay Book Company celebrated its 40th birthday with a private party last Sunday night. Spotted in the room: hilarious Seattle novelist Maria Semple, in a royal blue dress, introducing herself to Sherman Alexie, in royal blue pants. Store owner Peter Aaron was wearing a suit and tie (!), and the food included oysters, crab cakes, and an entire roasted pig they'd named Jeff B. Everyone kept going back for seconds of Jeff B., sinking their forks into Jeff B.'s back and legs and between his ribs, talking about how delicious Jeff B. was.
• What's that? You would like to buy last-minute fireworks from a local artist? Go to the Swinomish Casino, where photographer Matika Wilbur is on break from being on the road with her project of photographing all 562 federally recognized Native tribes. She's womanning a fireworks stand right next door to the casino that's open every day until the Fourth from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Look for the sign that says "Sonic Boom Babes. Unsafe and Insane."
• After starring as a severely troubled birthday-party clown in the gallows-humor comedy Tall Skinny Cruel Cruel Boys, which closed June 24, Hannah Victoria Franklin left her position as co–artistic director of Washington Ensemble Theater. Nearly everyone at WET is a co–artistic director, so they have plenty to go around, but we hope to see her again very soon. "Can someone organize an all-female festival of Mamet plays for her to star in?" Stranger theater editor Brendan Kiley wrote about Tall Skinny, describing Franklin's character as "a marshmallow with a core of creosote."
• On Monday, Mayor Mike McGinn's office released the names of the winners of the 2013 Mayor's Arts Awards. Unlike several past Arts Awards outings, this is a solid list. It features a pair of great do-gooders: 826 Seattle for the "Future Focus" award and Pongo Teen Writing Project (which teaches poetry to kids in juvie) in the unfortunately named "Arts as the How" category. Perennial Team Art Seattle all-stars the Frye Art Museum and Barbara Earl Thomas win as the "Venture Culturalist" and the "Cultural Ambassador," respectively. Glass artist Preston Singletary is "Raising the Bar," and Seattle Repertory Theatre wins "Artistic City." Congratulations to all the (very deserving) winners, who will be celebrated in a ceremony at Bumbershoot on Friday, August 30, at 4 p.m.
• For years, Seattle's public-art roster has needed the energy infusion that can only come from short-term, ephemeral projects on the streets. So last summer, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture began sponsoring an array of fleeting art across the city. This second edition has begun, and it includes an interactive pottery station by Dane Youngren, movable camera obscura booths by Joe Park and Claude Zervas at Westlake Park, and Art Interruptions 2013, a lineup of a dozen more works on the waterfront and Beacon Hill. Youngren's project promises to be a highlight. On Pier 62/63, you're invited to create ceramics while watching destruction at the "Alaskan Way Viaduct Observation and Demolition Unit." 
