L A UNC H Out & About

JULY 1, 8, 15

SAFARI NIGHTS

Artists and musicians fill the park for a concert from 6-9 p.m. Bring a blanket or reserve a cabana while you enjoy the zoo at night.

Dallas Zoo, 650 S. R.L. Thornton Freeway, dallaszoo.com, $7-$15

JULY 2

COPPER JEWELRY WORKSHOP

Participants learn to create unique copper jewelry and make their own bracelet and pendant.

Oil and Cotton, 817 W. Davis St., oilandcotton.com, $75

JULY 5, 12, 19, 26

CROCHET FOR A CAUSE

JULY 13

BASTILLE DAY

Celebrate everything French in Bishop Arts during Bastille on Bishop. Wine, food, music and merriment. Don’t forget the beret. Bishop Arts District, 400 N. Bishop Drive, bishopartsdistrict.com, free to $25

Join the crochet club to make blankets and sleeping mats out of plastic bags for those in need in the community.

North Oak Cliff Library, 302 W. Tenth, 214.670.7555, dallaslibrary.org, free

JULY 13-14

RAY WYLIE HUBBARD

Come see Oak Cliff native and Texas Country legend Ray Wylie Hubbard play his classic Americana songs. Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis, 214.272.8346, thekessler.org, $22+

JULY 16

PSYCHIC AND HOLISTIC

The Universal Unitarian Church of Oak Cliff’s annual Psychic and Holistic Fair is from 3-6 p.m. and includes psychic readings, Reiki, massage, crystals and more.

Universalist Unitarian Church of Oak Cliff, 3839 W. Kiest, oakcliffuu.org, free, 15-minute sessions cost $20

JULY 21-23

X-MAS IN JULY

Christmas comes early to Bishop Arts with a forecast of snow, Christmas carols and photos with Santa.

Bishop Arts District, 400 N. Bishop Drive, bishopartsdistrict.com, free-$25

There also was a leak at one point, which someone patched up with silicone adhesive, leaving a permanent chemical residue on the tiles it touched.

Art conservator Callie Heimburger, who is from Oak Cliff, was hired to clean the tiles.

Another conservator photographed every 6-inch square of the piece. The photos serve as a roadmap for where the tiles should lie.

“You have to have an O.C.D., love puzzles and be kind of a magpie,” Richey says of her work.

The goal is to make it look like it was never repaired. The St. Jude’s mosaic has a slice right in the middle that looks like it’s discolored.

“I know people are going to say they can tell it was restored because of that,” she says. “But it’s original.”

Richey plans to offer workshops and “mosaic happy hours” from her Oak Cliff studio. She’s also doing a restoration on a 1914 prairie foursquare on Montclair Avenue.

Above: The Downtown chapel is an “oasis on Main Street.” Opposite page: Conservators are cleaning all 800,000 of the mosaic’s tiny tiles and putting them back just so. (Photos by Danny Fulgencio)

The Downtown setting of the St. Jude’s restoration has been quite a scene, Richey says. New characters show up every day, adding to the regular cast of passersby.

“It’s not just for Catholics,” Richey says of the chapel. “There are tourists, neighbors, homeless people. It’s an oasis on Main Street. It’s an important link for the city.”