Mary Pickels stories, Page 28

Street curling in Pittsburgh? The Oakland Business Improvement District promises that sport and other entertainment during its first winter-themed block party, “Icy Lights,” from 4-10 p.m. on March 1. Set for the central business district, on Oakland Avenue between Forbes Avenue and Sennott Street, the event will showcase the neighborhood’s...

Get a head start on Valentine’s Day and support Community Kitchen Pittsburgh’s mission at “Dance With Me” from 6:30-9:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at Pittsburgh’s Graeme House. The evening of dancing, dining, and cocktails will help support Community Kitchen Pittsburgh programs and students. The nonprofit’s website states it supports the region’s...

Saint Vincent College Players will present four performances of the musical comedy “Damn Yankees” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14, 15 and 16, and at 2 p.m. Feb. 17 in the Performing Arts Center of the Robert S. Carey Student Center. General admission tickets will be available beginning one hour prior...

The Westmoreland Museum of American Art is offering K-12 educators in Westmoreland County a new free membership program. Educator members receive museum membership benefits at no cost, and can access collection and exhibition-related programming designed specifically for teachers. “We value the teachers and educators in our region and wanted to...

From sipping while painting to sketching with charcoal, molding hot glass, dyeing fabric or woodworking, opportunities exist for crafts people from novice to advanced to practice their artistic and making skills. Throughout the region, children and adults can find places to let their creative juices flow, with minimal or step-by-step...

Author/tarot expert Brittany Hailer will read from her new book, “Animal You’ll Surely Become,” and offer a limited number of tarot readings as part of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg’s Written/Spoken series at 7 p.m. Feb. 4 in Village Hall. The event is free and open to the public....

Pittsburgh Glass Center will hold an opening reception 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 1 for “Modern Meaning: A MONMADE Design Exhibition.” The exhibit, described as featuring dynamic products from producers working in and around Pittsburgh, will remain on view through Feb. 19. According to the glass center, the show challenges...

Metalsmith Melissa Davenport will present a program at the noon Feb. 21 Lunch a l’Art program at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley. The $15 event includes lunch and presentation. A teaching artist with SAMA and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Davenport combines metal art with...

Enjoy Hollywood’s biggest night of the year as you rate the gowns, discuss the red carpet interviews and cheer or jeer the winners of the 91st Academy Awards, all on the Rangos Giant Cinema at the Carnegie Science Center, 1 Allegheny Ave., Pittsburgh. There will be glitz, glam and refreshments...

Hempfield professional baker Gigi Thomas, owner of Gigi’s Signature Bakery, and her husband, non-baker Randy Thomas, will appear on “Cake Boss” Buddy Valastro’s television show “Bake It Like Buddy” at 9 p.m. Feb. 16. The couple will compete against another husband and wife team from Chester, Pa., according to Discovery...

The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra presents a Valentine’s weekend performance, “Heart Strings,” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Palace Theatre, 21 W. Otterman St., Greensburg. Bartók’s “Romanian Folk Dances” will be followed by Chee-Yun performing Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto,” and the evening concludes with Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 4.” Violinist Chee-Yun has...

The fourth annual Pittsburgh Lunar New Year celebration will kick off on Feb. 2 with a 2:30-4:30 p.m. event featuring cultural performances and martial arts at the Senator John Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman St., Pittsburgh. This special celebration is included with regular museum admission. Featured performances will include Chinese...

Point Park University student and grandmother Christina Wonnacott, 65, saw a way to turn a classroom assignment into a way to help others. “I needed to create a four-minute film for my screenwriting class and thought, ‘Why not make a promotional film that an organization could use to increase awareness...

The Norwin Lions will hold their seventh annual Cubcake Wars fundraising event from 1-4 p.m. March 3 in the Norwin High School cafeteria. Numerous bakers will make “cubcakes,” available for a $2 donation, all the while competing for best cubcake, best decorations and most funds raised for best in show....

Aside from her children, Reta Snodgrass Kuyat’s proudest accomplishment was founding the YWCA Westmoreland County. “Mom started with meetings in our house, and then in a tiny storefront on Main Street across from church,” said her daughter, Karen Nagy of Oakland Park, Fla. Her mother was ahead of her time,...

In celebration of Pittsburgh Opera’s upcoming premiere of “Glory Denied,” the company will hold a musical preview at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum at 6 p.m. Jan. 31 in Oakland. “Glory Denied” tells the story of Colonel Jim Thompson, America’s longest-held prisoner of war, who spent nearly nine...