The 1976 time capsule finally gave up its secrets

Florida's 2026 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday runs Monday, July 20 through Thursday, August 20 — a full month, not a weekend, so there's no need to fight the crowds on day one. During the holiday, you skip Florida sales tax on clothing, footwear, wallets, and bags priced $100 or less per item; school supplies $50 or less; learning aids and jigsaw puzzles $30 or less; and personal computers and accessories $1,500 or less when they're for home or personal use, not business. That last one is the sleeper deal: it's not just for kids' supplies, so a personal-use laptop for home can qualify too. Worth noting the dates overlap with the city's water-bill portal outage from July 20-28, so it's a good week to knock out the shopping while you're already rearranging bill payments.

Add one more to Delray's ever-expanding roster of places to get a cold, chewy, faintly ridiculous drink: a popular boba chain has opened a new South Florida location here in town. Bubble tea has quietly become one of those things every downtown eventually acquires, right alongside the third coffee spot and the second poke bowl, and now Delray's in the club. Whether you're a tapioca-pearl loyalist or someone who still can't quite explain the appeal to your kids, it's another reason to go looking for something sweet and cold to hold when the afternoon heat sets in.

The city is moving to a new utility billing portal, and the switch comes with a hassle and a kindness. Online water bill payments will be suspended from July 20 through July 28 during the transition, so if your due date lands in that window, plan to pay early or by another method. The kindness: late fees are waived through August 7, so a payment that slips during the changeover won't cost you extra. Worth setting a phone reminder now rather than discovering the outage the day the bill comes due.

Arts Garage has a strong doubleheader lined up. Friday the 10th at 8 p.m. brings The Allman Revival, an eight-piece tribute to the Allman Brothers Band by players who, in the venue's telling, feel the music rather than just recite the notes — the difference between a tribute you tolerate and one you stay for. Saturday the 11th, it's Yvad & The Legal Roots, a Bob Marley tribute fronted by Yvad, a former lead singer of The Wailers, running a good 90 to 120 minutes of songs you already know every word to. Two nights, two moods, one weekend of loud, live, actually-good music.

Saturday morning the Delray Summer Greenmarket runs from 9 a.m. at Old School Square — local produce, crafts, and the low-key ritual of buying more than you meant to before it's too hot to be outside. It's an easygoing thing in July: room to actually talk to the person who grew your tomatoes, and a good reason to be up and downtown before the afternoon storms roll through. Bring a bag, bring a little cash for the vendors who don't do cards, and don't skip the stuff you can't quite pronounce.

Here's a small, good thing happening quietly at the Delray Beach Public Library. Neighbors donated a batch of older sewing machines through local Buy Nothing groups, and the father of the library's sewing instructor volunteered to refurbish the ones that could be saved — at no cost — so students who took the library's classes can keep practicing at home. As staff collected the machines, they heard the stories stitched into them: maternity clothes, baby clothes, draperies made for families over the years. It's the kind of hand-me-down chain that makes a place feel like a neighborhood and not just an address.