MAO will be sponsoring the inaugural community art and music festival, Springfest at the Riverwalk May 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Volunteers are needed to help MAO. Specific tasks would be: ticket taking for games, popcorn machine helpers, ice cream booth helpers, store helpers and of course set up and tear down help. They are requesting volunteers arrive to the Riverwalk around 9 a.m. May 17.

Springfest is going to be an annual event that celebrates the area’s non profit agencies in a family-friendly festival in Montgomery’s beautiful new Riverwalk and Amphitheater. There is no charge to the public to attend.

By Jaine Treadwell, The Messenger

Just when one might think that TroyFest couldn't get any better, it did.

TroyFest 2008 is all jazzed up.

From beginning to end on Saturday, April 26, the downtown Troy area will sound and feel like New Orleans as TroyFest presents Jazz Fest.

A festival within a festival is the way Shelia Jackson, Troy public relations director, described Jazz Fest.

"The staging area will be at the corner of East Walnut and Market streets and we'll be jazzed up from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.," Jackson said. "We'll have some of the best high school jazz bands in the area on the Troy Cable Entertainment Stage and five outstanding jazz groups from Troy University. If you enjoy jazz, there won't be a better place anywhere than the Jazz Fest at TroyFest."

There will be a Latin dance at Kinesthetic Cue Dance Club Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 celebrating two years of monthly Latin dances.  Experienced dancers will be on hand to offer informal help if needed.  The fun starts at 8 pm and it's only $5 per person or couple at the door.  Open to the public so bring your friends.  A map as well as driving directions are at http://www.madisonal.com/kcdc/contact.htm

Operation New Birmingham's Magic City Art Connection was ranked as one of the top 20 events to attend in April 2008 by an Atlanta-based organization.

Southeast Tourism Society ranked the yearly art festival as part of its competitive top 20 event listings. The travel and tourism industry group picks the top 20 events in the Southeast each month. The lists are used widely by media from around the country.

Magic City Art Connection will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year when the event is held again in April in downtown's Linn Park.

Huntsville Botanical Garden's Spring Festival of Flowers was the only other Alabama event ranked in the top 20 for the same month.

JANUARY

Polar Bear Dip. Jan. 1. Run from white as snow sand around the infamous Flora-Bama Lounge into the bracing, blue Gulf. Steaming bowls of lucky black-eyed peas, hot music and New Year's toasts! Perdido Key, Fl., 800-874-1234, www.florabama.com.


Mario Villafuerte / Bloomberg News
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Mardi Gras celebrations are happening throughout the Southeast in January and February.

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Mardi Gras of Southwest Louisiana. Jan. 6-Feb. 6. Festivities begin with the Twelfth Night celebration and feature 43 krewes and 2,000 royalty members in seven colorful parades. Special events for kids and seniors. Lake Charles, La., 800-456-7952, www.visitlakecharles.org.

The 24th annual WZYP Bridal Fair is January 12th in the North Hall of the Von Braun Center in Huntsville. The Bridal Fair is a great opportunity for anyone in the bridal industry—or any business that targets women or new families.

This event can give your business the opportunity to present your product and services to thousands of potential customers. Last year, over 2,500 people attended the Bridal Fair, including over 700 registered brides!

Wayne Flynt, the noted Alabama historian, has it right. “Alabama,” his famous passage goes, “is like a disease. Once it infects a person, it is hard to cure the ailment.” So chalk me up as one who suffers from this malady, has sought relief, and has failed miserably to find a remedy.

As with baldness, I’m stuck with it.

Which isn’t a bad thing, of course.

Alabama’s low cost of living, wonderful weather — the danged drought notwithstanding — mostly pleasant people and sweaty love affair with college sports make it a pretty fair place to reside. If only we could stop making the same, senseless mistakes over and over and over — anyone who’s studied Alabama history knows what I’m talking about — it would be about perfect.

Registration is open for the 15^th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race. High school and college students design and build a vehicle that addresses a series of engineering problems similar to those faced by the original lunar-roving vehicle team. Each school may enter up to two teams. The race will take place April 4-5, 2008, in Huntsville, Ala., at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Entries must be received by Feb. 1, 2008.

For more information about the competition and to register online, visit: http://moonbuggy.msfc.nasa.gov/index.html

      The Junior Carolers Holiday 'Library Tour' will begin Dec. 14 through Dec. 20 to spread joy and cheers through song this holiday season at the following library locations.  Oscar Mason, Bailey Cove, Madison Public, Richard Showers and Huntsville Main Public Library.
      
         Any choral middle or high school student in performing arts who wish to experience this fun and educational 'Art of Touring' should call 513-5950.