All in favor of giving the city that can claim to be the birthplace of this nation an extra day off for Independence Day say “aye.”

Great. Now that we gave ourselves an extra day for the weekend, you’ll be delighted to know that this week’s calendar features BBQs, hacking and happy hours galore.

Refresh Philly is taking a short break from trying to solve our city government’s technology problems to get together for a happy hour at Triumph. Come for the fellowship, stay to measure the huge brewing equipment to see if you can fit it in your basement.

The happy hours continue on Wednesday with Center City district‘s Sips event. PANMA and various marketing groups will be on hand to help you join the association that is right for you on what is the self-proclaimed “happiest happy hour.”

You will have to finish working on your time machine by Thursday as Philly Startup Leaders host a BBQ (previous coverage here) at the same time the Philly Cocoa Heads hold their monthly meetup.

And on Saturday, cap it all off with relaxing stroll through The Hacktory at the group’s Open Hack event.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.

Monday, July 6: Refresh Philly gets together for their bi-monthly happy hour giving new members a great chance to come out and get acquainted, while current members can catch up with one another. The event is being held at Triumph Brewery, which has the best burgers in Old City apart from the Snow White diner (yeah, I said it). One strange aspect of the happy hour: it’s being sponsored by a Washington DC-based Web design firm. 6 p.m. Old City. RSVP. [view more events]

Wednesday, July 8: Drink specials abound as Center City’s creative associations gather for a happy hour at Lucky Strikes. Though I personally believe bowling alleys to be the 5th circle of the underworld, the event will also feature free appetizers. Groups like PANMA, The Greater Philadelphia Film Office and various marketing and advertising associations will be in attendance waiting to accept you with open arms and $4 cocktails. 5 p.m. Center City. RSVP. [view more events]

Thursday, July 9: Philly Startup Leaders are celebrating summer in the city with a BBQ on South Street. Come for the community, and stay for the door prizes, which include an iPhone. See our complete coverage of the event from last week for more details. 5:30 p.m. South Street. RSVP. [view more events]

Thursday, July 9: If the holiday gave you enough BBQ to hold you over for a couple of weeks, head on over to the old Indy Hall for a the monthly meetup of the Cocoa Heads. The crew from TweetDeck will be on hand to talk about their trials and tribulations in porting the app onto the iPhone. The group is admittedly more suited for beginners, so come out and get a head start on developing the next iPhone app that doesn’t involve bodily functions. 7 p.m. Old City. RSVP. [view more events]

Saturday, July 11: Kicking around in my brain somewhere is a fan fiction where MacGyver discovers the Hacktory and we finally get the flying car, the cure for cancer and a way to buy Septa tokens at the Tioga El stop. The nonprofit is holding an Open Hack, which is exactly what it sounds like: a loosely structured block of time where the Hacktory opens up its space to all those interested. At the very least, go to congratulate  them for their $10,000 grant. 1 p.m. Fairmount. RSVP. [view more events]

Photo courtesy of The Hacktory.

The Hacktory has received a $10,000 grant from the Philadelphia branch of national financial and advisory service Nonprofit Finance Fund.

The money will be used to hire a consultant to help define a long-term sustainability plan to further the Fairmount-based group’s mission of promoting the use of technology in arts, Hacktory organizer Vanja Buvac told Technically Philly.

Since the grant was signed three weeks ago, Philly’s techno-hackers have been communicating with core community members and performing outreach for input on how the organization should grow, he says.

“What we’re hearing overwhelmingly is that the Hacktory empowers artists to embrace technology. Also, it empowers technologists to cross that boundary into art,” Buvac says.

“That’s what the people involved in the Hacktory are really passionate about.”

The organization held an open planning session Wednesday evening at Nonprofit Technology Resources on the 1500-block of Brandywine Street to discuss its future. Members envisioned expanding the organization as an artist and engineer incubator and as a more regularly scheduled education center, Hacktory planning coordinator and volunteer Georgia Guthrie says.

“They want to see more of what the Hacktory is doing already,” she says. “People mentioned that sometimes there’s no regular classes or there’s a lack of content on our Web site. It makes the Hacktory look like we’re not there, and people expect us to be.”

Guthrie, who has worked for nonprofit organizations Pennsylvania Humanities Council and Philadelphia Education Fund, is helping coordinate the grant planning.

When NFF first expressed interest in providing a grant, Hacktory organizers contacted like-minded groups like NEXUS/foundation for today’s art, Pig Iron Theatre Company and Fleisher Ollman Gallery for advice.

The Hacktory partnered with NEXUS to showcase more than a dozen art/tech mash-ups in Unintended Uses, a month-long exhibit that we covered in February.

After Hacktory organizers attend planning sessions on June 19 and June 20, they will solicit community members with a survey of their “hopes and dreams” of the organization’s future.

“Our pie in the sky is to have an actual location where you can go and either bring your project and ask someone for help, take a class and work on your project, or see something cool in terms of an art exhibit,” Guthrie says.

Why? Because we love you. Not to mention we’re hoping to check out of here by noon, planning to feed off of leftovers in days to come, and reveling in the relaxation that comes with a four-day work week.

That said, we can’t stress enough that you drop in on one of Philadelphia’s many tech events this week. Not next week when you will be backbreakingly re-entrenched at work. No siree. We’re talking about this week, when you are truly appreciating the humidity and the slowed pace of life for the very first and last time this summer and will end up feeling guilty for not getting out there while you can.

We’re anxious to see how the The New Voice of Business kick-off party will go, what, with Mayor Nutter dropping in for the festivities. We’re as skeptical as the next guy about Philadelphia actually becoming the greenest city in America, but hell, let’s let loose Tuesday.

Speaking of letting loose, let’s drop your WordPress into fourth gear and truly get it pumping on the search engine internerds. SEO Grail has blog and new media consultant Michael Klusek to talk about how to mod the heck out of that out-of-box blogging experience. 409, baby.

And last, to echo our love of all things grilled, Philly Startup Leaders is organizing a committee to help plan its first-ever BBQ. Pass the Heinz and a sesame-seed level fund. Holy, we did not just say that. Technically Philly out. Hit the jump for more details.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more information, or follow us past the jump.

Tuesday, May 26: The New Voice of Business champions economic, social and environmental sustainability in business and says that the “old voice” ain’t talkin’ loud enough. Join New Voice founder Eliot Hoffman Tuesday evening for a free kick-off event featuring Mayor Michael Nutter at the Academy of Natural Sciences. 6 p.m. Center City. RSVP. [view more events]

Tuesday, May 26: SEO Grail is back Tuesday to help the bloggers amongst us get with that Google. Blog and new media consultant Michael Klusek will super-charge SEO-ready blogs with some search turbo. 6 p.m. Old City. RSVP. [view more events]

Wednesday, May 27: Philadelpia Linux May Meetup gathers together the city’s Linux users Wednesday night to ask a vital question: “What are we gonna do about all those damn Apple kids?” We kid, we kid. But seriously, we like what we’ve seen lately. Now, to convince the rest of the world that there’s just something sexy about the command line—one meetup at a time. 7:00 p.m. Fairmount. RSVP. [view more events]

Thursday, May 28: You’ll be kicking yourself when you turn down seconds on a juicy, grilled burger today and someone else swipes the last one. Have a second lease on Memorial Day by helping plan Philly Startup Leaders‘ BBQ Thursday evening. They wanna throw a serious BBQ bash this summer and want your input. Leave the grill at home, but our guess is no one’s going to turn down leftover deviled eggs. Mmm-Mmmm.6:00 p.m. Center City West. RSVP. [view more events]

Every Monday morning, Technically Philly will preview the best free tech events in Philadelphia and the surrounding region. See others here. Check our comprehensive events calendar here.