Now, you no longer have to adore your local library in private. You can send a love letter to the your favorite library about anything that swoons you—the old book smell, the never-ending shelves or the cool librarian that always helps you out. 

After four years of Love Letters to Tucson, a project started by local blogger Rachel Miller, Pima County libraries is now starting their own version of the project called Love Letters to My Library. This new project started on Oct. 21 in collaboration with local libraries and Miller herself.

Local libraries will take in new entries every month on the libraries' website and on the official website for Love Letters to Tucson. If you've got some love to share to your library or any questions about the program you can email [email protected].

Well, it's almost over! Many ballots have already been cast, and soon, we'll be free from heated radio and television campaign ads, the pollster calls and the serious influx of junk mail.

So, what are you doing election night? You can stay home, prepare a big American feast (apple pie and chicken fried steak encouraged) and hang out with us online, where we'll be posting results from the polls, interviews with politicians and other election night updates.

Or you can head out into the world and celebrate (fingers crossed!) with your fellow voters.

Your election night party options:

Hotel Congress
Polls close at 7 p.m., and that's when the party is getting started at Hotel Congress (311 E. Congress St.). Declaring itself the "Unofficial Democratic Headquarters of Tucson and Arizona," Congress is delivering an evening of live music, prizes and surprises. They're advertising drink specials from 9 p.m. to midnight ($4 Bulleit and Stoli, $6 Doubles, $4 Lagunitas), which might prove necessary depending on how the evening goes.

Rialto Theatre
Across the street, the Rialto Theatre (318 E. Congress St.) will be projecting election results as they roll in. Bring the kids, munch on some popcorn and try to handle your anxiety about the future of the world. The party starts at 7:30 p.m.

Public Brewhouse
Public Brewhouse (209 N. Hoff Ave.) is inviting you over to laugh and cry as this mess of an election cycle finally rolls to an end. Poppy the beer dog will be there to offer up some snuggle therapy and, of course, there will be lots of local beer. Cast your ballot and start the party early at Public, which is opening its doors at 4 p.m.

The AC Hotel in Tucson by Marriott is in its final stages and will host a "topping out" party to celebrate the placing of the final beam on the building. Everyone in the community is invited to come to this free event on Nov. 5 from 1-5 p.m. at the site, 151 E. Broadway Blvd.

Guests are invited to enjoy free ice cream from HUB, tacos from Charro Steak, coffee from Cafe Lucé live music and refreshments for sale. Some of the proceeds from drink purchases will benefit the Sister Jose Women's Center for Tucson's homeless women.

At 2:30 p.m., Mayor Jonathan Rothschild will take the stage to say few words about the new hotel in downtown. Other speakers include: council member Steve Kozachik, developer Scott Stiteler, and Rio Nuevo board member Mark Irvin.

If you want to take home a few memories from the event, guests can also enjoy a photo booth at the site. Bring your friends, your dog and your mom for this afternoon block party. For more information click here.

There has never been a better time to be into nerd culture. Superheroes dominate the movie theaters and TV lineups. Sci-fi novels are being mined for Netflix and Amazon streaming services. And Comic Cons are drawing huge crowds in cities around the world.

Here in Tucson, Mike Olivares is prepping for the ninth annual Tucson Comic-Con this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 4-6.

The founder and director of the con, Olivares was born in Tucson and grew up in the southwest side. The youngest of three, he didn’t find it that easy to find comic books when he was growing up.

His first introduction to fantasy culture was the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.

“My cousins would come down from California every summer and we would play Dungeons & Dragons,” Olivares said. "Maybe that left a little spark in me when it came to things like fantasy.”

But in middle school, he discovered comic books.

“I was really into art when I started going to Mansfeld,” he said. “Then I started getting into comic book art.”

His first comic book was given to him by his older brother.

“It was an Amazing Spider-Man,” he remembers. “I wanna say it’s either (issue) 38 or 48. I can’t remember the dang number.”

He was hooked. He started collecting comics and, eventually, decided to launch a Tucson Comic-Con.

"My whole thing was, why don't we have one?” he said. “Maybe I'll start one."

At the time, regional conventions got much less attention than the big cons, such as the ones in San Diego and New York. In 2007, the first Tucson Comic-Con was held for one day at a Four Point Sheraton.

"It was in this small meeting room in the back, maybe about 500 people showed up to the first one," he remembered.

That year they had a couple of guest artists and writers, but Olivares was always focused on Tucson.

“Besides Image and Marvel, you don’t think that there’s people creating comics books on an indie platform,” he said. “I was just as excited to know that we had indie companies here in Tucson.”

This year, the Tucson Comic-Con is a weekend-long affair at the Tucson Convention Center with various celebrities and artist and an expected 10,000 attendees.

Olivares describes the con being a yearlong job now, without pay: “A labor of love for sure.”

He has taken on Francesca and Brian Pulido as partners and directors of the Con. The Pulidos have been working in the comic book industry for the last 25 years, with their own property Lady Death, which was relaunched on Coffin Comics also owned and operated by the Pulidos.

Whiskey lovers, Good Oak Bar (316 E. Congress St.) is calling your name this Thursday, Sept. 29.

If you want an education experience all about whiskey, get excited because Charlie Garrison of Garrison Brothers Distillery in Texas is hosting a seminar at the bar from 3-4 p.m. You'll want to RSVP for the event and it'll cost you $10.

The party really begins at the 6 p.m. with Garrison and Tucson's Stephen Paul from Hamilton Distillery, both of whom will be hanging out during the event to talk about their original whiskeys.

What more can you ask for? Good Oak promises bourbon-friendly food (including barbecue burgers!) on the menu, plus country and blues vinyl all night long.

There's an event for all the fruit fanatics out there and it's coming to you this Saturday, Sept. 24. The Annual Pomegranate Festival will be coming to Tucson's Mission Gardens, 946 W. Mission Ln., for the second year in row from 9-11 a.m. 

Brought on by the Friends of Tucson's Birthplace in conjunction with the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the festival is a free, all ages event. Festival goers can enjoy the wide variety of pomegranates with other fruit enthusiasts as well as music, tastings and presentations from Jesus Garcia, Nina Sajovec and Alfredo Gonzalez.

You don't want to be caught off guard of your fruit knowledge at this homage to pomegranates.

Here are few fruit facts to know before going to the Pomegranate Festival:

- Pomegranates are in season from September to February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the fruit is in season from March to May.

- The pomegranate originated from the Mediterranean area. Today, it is cultivated all over the world including California and Arizona.

- In ancient Greece, the pomegranate was regarded as "the fruit of the dead."   

Click here for more information on the festival.

Creative Juice Art Bar (6530 E. Tanque Verde Road) and Gifted Custom Art will team up on Saturday, Oct. 1 to raise money for the local Boys and Girls Clubs in Tucson. You don't have to be a modern Monet to attend this painting philanthropy event.

The concept is simple: Gifted provides a photo for you and your friends to convert into a painted masterpiece and Creative Juice gives you a place to do it. Registration to the Gifted Giving event is $55 per person and every registration gives one painting experience to a child at the Boys and Girls Club of Tucson - Frank and Edith Morton Clubhouse.    

For more information on how to register, click here. 

Lucky you! We've still got tickets to give away for the last three Beach Blanket Be-Bop shows. Want to check it out? Enter below. We'll pick winners when we get back from our long Labor Day weekend. 

School is back in session, temperatures are often below the triple digits and soon the public pools and water parks will be closed.

In fact, Breaker's Water Park will be closing for the season after Labor Day (this Monday, Sept. 5), so grab some floaties and put your swimsuit on. We're giving away tickets. Want some? Enter here:

The twilight of summer is here (womp womp).

Upsides? Walking out the front door will soon no longer feel like accidentally opening a pre-heated oven. And hey, here's a list of five awesome events to attend before the onslaught that is the first week of school descends upon our once empty, tranquil desert streets.  

1) Silversun Pickups at the Rialto
Although ideally we'd rewind back about a month and blast these driving rhythms through an iPod stereo on some beach in Mexico, we'll just have to enjoy them now at the Rialto when Silversun Pickups roll through on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. Full of sway-worthy, 90s-esque complex sound, the Pickups are the perfect act to celebrate the angst that comes with the last days of summer. Check them out here.    

2) Open Studios Under the Full Moon
The Metal Arts Village's (3230 N Dodge Blvd) monthly gathering of booze, food and art is happening this Thursday, Aug. 18 starting at 6 p.m. Wander around and meet local artists doing what they do best, followed by some food truck fare and perhaps a summery Hef from Tucson Hop Shop. Family friendly and free, check out the Facebook event page for more details.

3) Twilight Bicycle Mural Tour | COX Plaza Dance Party
This one's for the bikers and dancers out there looking for one more night of empty streets and breathable dance floors. The tour will start at MOCA (265 S Church Ave) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 19 and will officially set off at 7:15 p.m. After a 2-hour, flat ride showcasing some favorite murals in the area, (and for the non-cyclists among us) the night will end with a dance party at Cox Plaza with DJs BayBay Ruthless + Illslur. Tickets are 5 bucks or free if you're a MOCA member. Here's the info.

4) Wild Style at the Loft 
This month's Staff Selects takes us to the hip-hop glory that was 1980s New York City, a docudrama that features the graffiti, freestyling, scratching and breakdancing that exploded onto the city scene on the heels of a new artistic culture. Even the actors were taken right from the neighborhoods featured in the film. The flick airs Sunday, Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Loft (3233 E Speedway Blvd). You can take a look at the trailer before heading out. 

5) Brew-HaHa Comedy Showcase
Coming in hot a few days after the first day of school, the Brew-HaHa Comedy Showcase at Borderlands Brewery (119 E Toole Ave) is promising an "amazing" show, with plenty of beers on tap just in case the laughs don't land for everyone. The latter shouldn't be too much of a problem with headliner Monte Benjamin at the comedy helm, with local AZians Randy Ford, Charles Engle and Dan Thomson also on the bill. The show, on Wednesday, Aug. 24 at 8 p.m., has a $3 cover, here are the deets.