One month to go before Super Bowl, and Dallas-area events calendar is packed.

We are just one month away from the Super Bowl here in Dallas and the city is buzzing with excitement.  

The roar of the Super Bowl crowd at Cowboys Stadium is still a month away, but a casual observer could be forgiven for assuming the game was only a few days off.

With the holiday lull over and playoff teams set, preparations for the Feb. 6 game are coming as fast as an NFL blitz. Super Bowl announcements and events – from the release of an iPhone app to a photo exhibit to preparations for the pregame party – have arrived almost hourly during some stretches this week.
Tony Fay, spokesman for the Super Bowl XLV host committee, said the pace has noticeably quickened since the start of the new year. Since Sunday, the Internet traffic on the host committee website doubled.
"In a big-time marathon, the quickest pace is usually that final .2 [mile]," Fay said.
And that's exactly where Super Bowl preparations are this week.
This week brought the release of an iPhone football trivia app sponsored by former Cowboys star Drew Pearson and the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau, with Super Bowl tickets as a prize for the top score.
The PDNB Gallery in Dallas announced that it will hold a Sports Illustrated-sponsored exhibit of photographs by Neil Leifer, who started shooting NFL championship games in 1958.
On Saturday, the day after the Cotton Bowl game is played at Cowboys Stadium, NFL contractors are scheduled to start filling the parking lots there with equipment for the Super Bowl tailgate party. That same day, NFL sponsor Verizon is hosting a Super Bowl XLV 5K race in Richardson.
In the coming four weeks leading up to the game, Super Bowl talk, announcements and events will be inescapable. Even those uninterested in football probably won't be able to miss television ads featuring former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman reminding people that "company is coming" and to be good hosts.
On Wednesday morning, the Arlington Convention & Visitors Bureau jumped right into the rush to the Super Bowl. They introduced Drew Pearson's Super Trivia Challenge iPhone app.
The game contains 525 trivia questions that cover Super Bowl lore, National Football League and Cowboys trivia and other football pop-culture references.
The winner with the highest score will be announced Jan. 24 and will receive two tickets to Super Bowl XLV. In the event of a tie, the winner will be drawn from a pool of highest scorers.
Jay Burress, president and CEO of the Arlington CVB, said similar smart-phone apps could be created to promote the Texas Rangers and Six Flags Over Texas. Officials said an Android version will be in development for the 2011 Cowboys football season.
Missy Finger, owner of PDNB Gallery, which stands for Photographs Do Not Bend, said its photo exhibit was one of the few ways her business could participate in the Super Bowl. The spotlight before the game is likely to be more on football, parties and celebrities rather than galleries like hers.
"People aren't necessarily in town to see the visual arts," she said.
But her gallery showed works by Leifer in the 1990s, and this seemed like a natural time to bring him back. He shot many iconic sports photos, including New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath covered in mud on the Shea Stadium sidelines and a triumphant Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston.
The exhibit will run from Jan. 29 to March 26 at PDNB. A reception for Leifer is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m. on opening night at the Dragon Street gallery in the Dallas Design District.
In another effort to weave football into less-obvious events, a group of Grapevine-Colleyville ISD students met Wednesday with celebrity chef Jon Ashton, who showed them how to incorporate healthy ingredients into standard Super Bowl party fare.
He and Grapevine Middle School students added yogurt and honey to herbs and spices for a dip that he encouraged them to eat with vegetables come game time.
Ashton also prepared with students their contest-winning "Gobble It Up" turkey lasagna recipe that they created as part of the "Fuel Up to Play 60" program.
The effort is sponsored by the NFL, the National Dairy Council, and Dairy MAX, a nonprofit organization funded by the dairy farming families in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and southwest Kansas.
Grapevine Middle School has embraced the program, a nationwide movement to fight childhood obesity. Students are encouraged to be more involved in their own health and food choices and to get at least 60 minutes of exercise each day.
"Using healthy ingredients and working with recipes is exciting," said Caleb Smith, 12. "It smells good. And it's making me kind of hungry."
Even other sports are being added to the Super Bowl mix.
ESPN announced that it will hold Friday Night Fights at the Fort Worth Convention Center on Feb. 4. The "Super Brawl 2011" will happen two days before the Super Bowl and one day before the Taste of the NFL is held at the same place.
The sports network is already planning to broadcast outdoors at downtown Fort Worth's Sundance Square during Super Bowl week.
Fay, the host committee official, said it makes sense that this would be a particularly busy time for scheduling and announcing events. As the game approaches, there will be more competition for people's attention and time.
"It's a competitive field," he said. "You don't want to get lost in the shuffle."