Contributed by Jeff Olsen (@jeffolsen76)

Summer solstice is upon us and that means that the first half of the year is already over! Whew, time flies when you're celebrating! We've had time over the last few weeks to look back on some of our events from the first half of the year, including our second installment of the Utah Travels exhibition, University-Diversity Mashup, the popular Muslim Journeys Film Series, and our newest annual festival theMix.  As exciting a first half of the year as it was, the second half of the year has us even more excited!  We're pleased to offer a little something for everyone with diverse concerts art exhibits, a festival, conference, and the winter market. Here's a sampling of what we have prepared for you for the rest of 2014:

Hi, there!  I'm Michael Christensen (@folkloremike), Folklorist/Cultural Specialist here at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center. That's me there, hanging a banner for the Utah's Beehive exhibit we hosted last spring.  I mention spring because I'm hoping it gets here soon . . . new beginnings, new life, new WEBSITE!

That's right.  Over the next couple of weeks you'll see some changes coming to the Cultural Center website.  We're excited about it, and hope you are too.  Tell your friends!  We have a lot of great, FREE, public arts and cultural events for you to enjoy.

After browsing the new website, stop here for "Cultural Comments", where I'll be talking about a LOT of topics, like history, culture, diversity, heritage, ethnicity, nationality, and folklore to name a few.   And of course I'll update you on arts and culturally related activities here at the Center, and throughout our community.  I hope you enjoy my "Cultural Comments", and hope you'll make some of your own!  Here's a start for you: what should I call this blog?  Does "Cultural Comments" work for you?