July 2026
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July 2026
July in Oro Valley is not for the faint of heart — or the unhydrated. The monsoon is officially on the calendar, which means the mornings carry something close to anticipation: will the storms come today, or just threaten to? The saguaros are in their post-bloom quiet. The desert, somehow, is even more alive than it looks. July 4th brings the community together; Primary Election Day falls on July 21st; and Code Ninjas opens for its grand opening on the 25th. This is a month that asks you to pay attention.
What's New in OV
Town Updates
The Primary Election is July 21, 2026. The General follows on November 3. Before you vote, visit iloveov.com/2026-election to read candidate Q&As from Mark Napier, Rosa Dailey, and Jake Herrington — and to see which candidates chose not to respond.
2026 Mayor Candidates:
- Melanie Barrett
- Mark Napier
2026 Town Council Candidates:
- Rosa Dailey
- Chris DeSimone
- Jacob “Jake” Herrington
- Rhonda Pina
- Matt Wood
Three Council seats and the Mayor’s seat are on the line. The issues are real: development pressure, water supply, and the Town’s funding of operations. Primary is July 21.
I Won the Election. Now What?
ILoveOV went a step further this cycle and asked the question that comes after the campaign: What actually happens when you win a seat on Oro Valley Town Council? Before the race took its current shape, we sat down with sitting Council Members Elizabeth Robb and Mary Murphy to find out.
Read the full conversation → I Won the Election. Now What?
New Business Alert
The Town of Oro Valley continues to welcome new businesses this summer. Among the highlights:
- Code Ninjas Oro Valley — Grand Opening Saturday, July 25. STEM-focused coding education for kids.
- Desert Drifter Coffee — 10335 N. La Cañada Dr. (open for business)
- Sushi Valley — 10425 N. Oracle Rd., Unit 125
- Skinpoint Rejuvenation — 10509 N. Oracle Rd., Unit 131
Welcome, neighbors.
Ongoing every Saturday — Oro Valley Farmers Market at Steam Pump Ranch, Saturday mornings.
Featured Citizen
Joe Bourne grew up singing on street corners in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He spent 25 years performing across Europe alongside Ray Charles and Dionne Warwick, recorded a Christmas album in East Berlin with worthless East German currency, and toured a Nat King Cole tribute that earned praise from Cole’s own daughter. Then he moved to Oro Valley and never looked back.
He has been here for 26 years. He performs every third Monday at The Views, creates layered encaustic paintings in a studio full of beeswax, copper, and stone, and quietly gives back through the Oro Valley Optimist Club and the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona. His custom awards hang in the offices of top Oro Valley Chamber members. His music products once filled the holiday catalogs of Dutch grocery chains and the gift shop at the Hoover Dam.
This month, we sit down with a man who has done an extraordinary amount of living and somehow ended up exactly where he belongs.
Read the full profile → Featured Business
Smith Dental — Oro Valley’s Hometown Practice
Dr. Atty Smith didn’t set out to open a dental practice in Oro Valley. She and her husband Rory came here for family, for the quieter streets, for a place to raise their daughters. The practice came later, almost by accident, when a small office up the street went up for sale. That was 2014. Twelve years in, Smith Dentalworks has grown into one of the more technology-forward dental practices in the area, and Dr. Smith has built a reputation for something harder to advertise: patients here don’t feel like a number.
Her practice runs on a few core ideas. Pain-free dentistry is one of them, backed by the Solea laser, a hard-tissue tool that handles many fillings with little to no numbing. Patient education is another. She uses photography and digital scans to show patients what’s happening in their own mouths, not just describe it. And for patients without dental insurance, an in-house membership plan keeps preventive care within reach.
Small, private, and intentionally personal, Smith Dentalworks is the kind of practice that’s getting harder to find.
Disclosure: Dr. Smith has been the dentist for ILoveOV Publisher Michael Burns and his wife Annette for five years. We wanted to disclose that relationship up front. It’s also a big part of why we wanted to feature her practice this month: we don’t recommend lightly, and five years in her chair has earned our trust.
Read the full profile → Our Monthly Series -- Featured Founding Citizen
Editor’s Note: George Washington commanded the Continental Army, presided over the Constitutional Convention, and declined a third presidential term when it was his for the taking. He is the Founding Father who, perhaps more than any other, could have kept power — and chose to hand it back. This one is about that choice.
In our seventh installment of Conversations Across Centuries, we sit down with the General, the President, the farmer at Mount Vernon — the man who, when it was done, just wanted to go home. Washington talks about Valley Forge, about the moment he realized the war might actually be won, about the Presidency he wasn’t sure the country was ready for, and about the letter that still keeps him up at night: the one where he promised the Hebrew Congregation of Newport that this new nation would give to bigotry no sanction.
“I was not a perfect man,” he says. “I do not believe I was the best man for the job. I believe I was the man who showed up.”
Read the full feature → Our Monthly Series -- Mythical Figure
Editor’s Note: He has been pointing at you since 1917. His likeness is on more posters, parade floats, and Fourth of July decorations than any other figure in American civic life. But what does Uncle Sam actually think about the country these days? We found out.
In our July installment of the Mythical Figures Interview Series, Uncle Sam sits down under a ramada at Steam Pump Ranch the morning after the Fourth of July concert. He is wearing the hat, minus the stars — they needed pressing. He has opinions about fireworks, about voter turnout, about what a Primary election in a small Arizona town has to do with the whole experiment he represents.
“I want you,” he says, tapping the table. “Not for the Army. For the ballot box. There’s a Primary in three weeks.”
He talks about water. About what it means that communities like Oro Valley are making decisions right now that will define the next fifty years. About the July heat as a kind of test — not just of endurance, but of community. His advice for getting through an Arizona July: stay hydrated, check on your neighbors, and vote.
Read Uncle Sam's interview → July Events Guide
July is a month with real anchors: Independence Day, the Primary, a grand opening, and monsoon season. Here is what is on the calendar.
July 1 – 5
July 6 – 12
July 13 – 19
July 20 – 26
July 27 – 31
Recurring Events
- Farmers Markets: Every Saturday, 8 am-12 pm at Steam Pump Ranch
- Second Saturday: Second Saturday Each Month, 8:00 am-12:00 pm
- Town Council: No meeting in July
Want to add your event? Email events@iloveov.com
See Full Calendar
