Jeanette Bell has a dream for every New Orleanian, and she’s not afraid to get dirty to see it come true. “I want three things for everyone in this city,” she said as she stood on a vacant lot in Mid-City squinting into the sun. “I want everybody to have better quality food to eat in … Continue reading →

Booklovers will be in bibliophile heaven at the 60th annual Symphony Book Fair this weekend, as more than 100,000 items are arrayed for their selection. Marlene Jaffe, who handles publicity for the sale, said that number includes “art, puzzles, CDs, DVDs and sheet music, but is mostly books.’’ The fair will be in the Student … Continue reading →

In the middle of the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, behind the Carrollton Station post office and across from a well-used youth baseball complex, is a lush scrap of Eden called Hollygrove Market & Farm. Hollygrove is an urban farm and community garden, at 8301 Olive St., that also serves as a market for locally raised produce, … Continue reading →

The Westwego Farmers and Fisheries Market will sponsor its fourth annual crawfish cookoff from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at the market, 484 Sala Ave., Westwego. Tickets are $12 per person in advance and $15 the day of the event. Children 10 and under will be admitted free. In addition to the cook-off, there … Continue reading →

If you have never been to the charming town of Abita Springs, or if you have never been to the Abita Springs Opry in the charming town of Abita Springs, this Saturday might be the time to go. The Abita Springs Opry brings old-fashioned acoustic music to the stage at Town Hall during fall and spring … Continue reading →

Spring and summer are for outdoor fun with your pet. But with rising temperatures, heat stroke becomes a real risk. Heat stroke — the medical name for the inability to regulate body temperature — can cause temporary or permanent organ damage, and is, at minimum, extremely uncomfortable for either cat or dog. Keep pets cool … Continue reading →

The 10th annual 1-mile, 5K run/walk through historic Metairie Cemetery attracted more than 800 entrants this year, but at first the weather didn’t cooperate. Forced to postpone the event to the last Sunday morning of Jazz Fest, organizers were pleased that more than 600 runners still turned out to compete in a variety of different categories … Continue reading →

PORCH DOGS: The Garden District Book Shop presents Nell Dickerson, discussing and signing her book, “Porch Dogs,” from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St., New Orleans. “Porch Dogs” combines fine-art portraits of man’s best friend with beautiful architectural documentation of the Southern porch. The Louisiana Society for … Continue reading →

For more than 56 years, the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library has helped the city of New Orleans build, maintain and service its libraries. Founded in 1957 to raise funds and public awareness for the building of the Main Library, the Friends group has consistently supported all of the city’s library branches. Resources … Continue reading →

FREE COMPUTER CLASSES: Call (504) 838-1144 STORY WITH CRAFT: 11 a.m. Thursday. BASIC MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010-PART 2: 6 p.m. Thursday. LOUISIANA ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS: 6 p.m. Thursday. … Continue reading →

More than 60 Coca-Cola employees from across the country recently joined members of the Dillard University community to host a rain barrel workshop and break ground on a new school garden for Medard H. Nelson Charter School. The garden is the first of three that the Dillard University Office of Community Relations is sponsoring in the local … Continue reading →

The Jane Austen Society of Louisiana invited high school students in southeastern Louisiana to participate in the Jane Austen Literary Round Table, an essay contest that will conclude with a roundtable discussion of the 10 best papers. Students are invited to submit essays until Aug. … Continue reading →

MARRERO — Register now to take part in BioBlitz 2013, a 24-hour species count and biodiversity festival, Friday and Saturday at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. Sponsored by the National Park Service and the National Geographic Society, BioBlitz 2013 is part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom. Continue reading →

The Community Section this week includes photos from local civic, community and school groups and highlights recent events around New Orleans, Jefferson Parish and St. Tammany parishes.

Every month, comedians go to three New Orleans metro area hospitals with one goal: making sick youngsters laugh. It’s a goal that unites philanthropists and performers in the city, the region and beyond under the banner of Funny Bones Improv. Founder Jolene Fehler brought the nonprofit Funny Bones with her from Chicago to New Orleans about … Continue reading →

Babies and toddlers with colorfully painted faces walked, crawled and stumbled through the Touro Family Birthing Center on Saturday to reunite with the nurses and doctors who helped them in the first few days and months of their lives. All these children had one thing in common: They had been cared for in the neonatal intensive care … Continue reading →

It’s natural for kids to want to play in the water when it gets hot. That’s why it’s so important to teach them to be safe around it. The Ashley Marie Kelly Swim Program, in partnership with the American Red Cross, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and Tulane University, provides a week of free daily lessons in … Continue reading →

Valerie Englehardt, of Madisonville, has loved everything about being a mother: being pregnant, nursing babies, healing hurt knees, driving children here and there, and watching her children grow into good men and women. She has loved motherhood and lived it so well, in fact, that she has been chosen for the Regina Matrum, or “Queen of … Continue reading →

The Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts will present the musical “Gypsy” from Friday through May 26 at the theater, 325 Minor St., Kenner. The show is directed by Gary Rucker. The musical director is Kyle Aucoin and the choreographer is Frannie Buchtel. Tickets are $30 to $35 per person with discounts for seniors, students and … Continue reading →

Adding a new dog to the family is a big decision and a lifelong commitment. It is especially important to consider the pets you already have in the home when deciding to bring in a new addition. Once you’ve decided to get another pet, you’ll want to make the introduction with a minimal amount of stress. … Continue reading →

The strength of a community is never more apparent then when one among them is in need. Recently, friends and supporters of the Townsend family gathered at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Lakeview with a very special mission as their objective: to raise much-needed funds to help offset medical expenses associated with a 2-year-old boy’s heart transplant. … Continue reading →

HIKE THE LAFITTE CORRIDOR: The Friends of the Lafitte Corridor will host its annual three-mile hike at 9:30 a.m. Saturday beginning Congo Square in Louis Armstrong Park and finishing at Bud’s Broiler, 500 City Park Ave. Bike Easy will hold a bike safety workshop at 9 a.m. in Congo Square and transport bikes … Continue reading →

I am excited to announce that early sign-up for our much-loved annual Summer Reading Program is scheduled to begin May 15, with kickoff parties scheduled at each of our 14 library locations on May 31 and June 1, depending on the library location. Early signup and details on the kickoff parties can be found by … Continue reading →

FREE COMPUTER CLASSES: Call (504) 838-1144 STORY WITH CRAFT: 11 a.m. Thursday. BASIC MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010-PART 1: 2 p.m. Thursday. AUTHOR EVENT — SARAH CARR DISCUSSES “HOPE AGAINST HOPE”: … Continue reading →

NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Public Library honored four local teens who placed highly in the 2013 Paul Robeson Acting Competition . To enter the competition, students were instructed to write an original monologue pertaining to an individual from African-American history. Immanuel Simon of the New Orleans Center for Creative … Continue reading →

NEW ORLEANS — One-act plays written by New Orleans fifth- and seventh-graders will be presented by five local, professional theater producers at Goat in the Road Productions’ fourth annual Play/Write Showcase at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Dillard University’s Cook Theatre, 2601 Gentilly Blvd. Cripple Creek Theatre Co., Dillard Theatre Ensemble, Junebug Productions, NEW … Continue reading →

Morris Jeff Community School will hold its third annual Feria de Primavera, a spring fair, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at First Grace United Methodist Church, 3401 Canal St. The school invites the community to join in the fun for a great cause. The event … Continue reading →

The Community Section this week includes photos from local civic, community and school groups and highlights recent events around New Orleans, Jefferson Parish and St. Tammany parishes.

New Orleans’ Jazz and Heritage Festival has been drawing music fans from across the globe to the city for fun and funk for more than 40 years, but without the help of a volunteer force numbering nearly 1,000 people, the show could not go on. “We currently have 973 scheduled volunteers,” said Jamala Roux, human resources director … Continue reading →

It’s not every day that a young college graduate makes history just being hired, but for Marian Mayer Berkett, that’s exactly what happened. In 1937, with the country stuck in the depths of the Great Depression, Berkett graduated first in her class from the Tulane School of Law and headed out to search for a job. Continue reading →

What do Ruth Fertel, Al Copeland, Count Arnaud Cazenave, Angelo Brocato, Diamond Jim Moran, and members of the Brennan and Guste families have in common? Besides their connections to New Orleans’ culinary history, they are all buried in historic Metairie Cemetery. And so are other food-related people, such as Denis Rufin of the … Continue reading →

Malcolm Jenkins is a 6-foot, 200-pound defensive back who hits hard every week for the New Orleans Saints. And he enjoys a chilled glass of lemonade with a garnish of fresh mint and a slice of kiwi. This is just a little something I learned Saturday, when Jenkins and I helped judge a lemonade contest at … Continue reading →

If you like music and movies, Kenner has exactly what you are looking for throughout the month of May. Rivertown will be the location for the “Music in the Park” series from 6 to 9:30 p.m. every Friday in May. The series includes The Yat Pack on Friday; Category 6, May 10; The Refugeze, May 17; … Continue reading →

NEW ORLEANS — Samuel J. Green Charter School held its annual third-grade Market-to-Table event, one of the Edible Schoolyard New Orleans’ many grade-level “edible experiences” offered to students across the FirstLine Schools network of five schools. Staff, students and local chefs formed teams and visited the Crescent City Farmers Market, where the teams … Continue reading →

HAMMOND — Forty-eight students from the International High School of New Orleans earned top honors recently at Southeastern Louisiana University’s 31st annual Foreign Language Festival, hosted by the Department of Languages and Communication in Hammond. The festival is held each spring and features students from across the state competing in extemporaneous speaking, prose, … Continue reading →

Sister Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking” and opponent of the death penalty, will speak at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Faith Bible Church, Tyler and Columbia streets, in Covington. Prejean, a native of Baton Rouge and member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, began her anti-death penalty advocacy in 1982 when she became spiritual adviser … Continue reading →

The Rosa F. Keller Branch and Community Center, 4300 S. Broad St., is hosting a Cooking for Seniors program sponsored by the Broadmoor Improvement Association. The next class will be at 5:30 p.m. Thursday . The program is led by teachers from Second Harvest and is aimed at teaching ages residents 50 and … Continue reading →

FREE COMPUTER CLASSES: Call (504) 838-1144 STORY WITH CRAFT: 11 a.m. Thursday. WORLD WAR II DISCUSSION GROUP: 7 p.m. Thursday TEEN MOVIE: 2 p.m. … Continue reading →

The Divine Mercy Men’s Club will hold its annual Best Ball Scramble at Chateau Golf and Country Club on Monday in Kenner. The event helps the Divine Mercy Men’s Club support the Divine Mercy Parish Church and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School. Lunch and beverages will be provided in advance of the shotgun start at … Continue reading →

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue will headline Shorty Fest on Thursday , a fundraiser for the Trombone Shorty Foundation, at Generations Hall, 310 Andrew Higgins Drive. Other performers on tap at Shorty Fest include the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Cha Wa and Hot 8 Brass Band, as well as a performance by students of the … Continue reading →

LAPLACE — Harleys For Horses is an annual fundraising motorcycle run benefitting the Greater New Orleans Therapeutic Riding Center in LaPlace. This year, the run was dedicated to the memory of St. John the Baptist Parish Deputy Brandon Neilsen who, along with Officer Jeremy Triche, lost his life in the line of … Continue reading →

THIBODAUX — Thibodaux was alive with excitement at the “Dancing with the Stars on the Bayou” event April 13 in the Cotillion Ballroom at Nicholls State University. Master of ceremonies was Chrisitan Leblanc of the CBS serial drama “The Young and the Restless.” Celebrity judges were Eric Paulsen … Continue reading →

Members of the Crescent City Sound Chorus of Sweet Adelines International performed at a Region 10 competition in Houston. They won the Audience Choice Award and an award for marketing. For information about joining the group, call (985) 898-0951 or go to http://www.crescentcitysound.com. The chorus meets at 7 p.m. every Monday at Delgado … Continue reading →

It’s the beginning of the season for fleas. Don’t think your inside pet won’t get fleas. People can bring them in on our shoes and socks. Skin is the “target” for exoparasites. Fleas and ticks easily pierce the thin epidermal layer with their blood-sucking apparatus to access the network of blood vessels in the dermis. … Continue reading →

Touro dietitians will lead a seminar on dietary supplements on Thursday at 5 p.m. in the hospital’s President’s Room, 1401 Fourcher St., second floor. Topics include whether vitamin and mineral supplements make a difference in your health, whether supplements interact with your prescription … Continue reading →