Live After 5
Live After 5 returns to Tufts Memorial Park Friday, April 13, with music, dancing, food, beer, wine and fun activities for the kids. The event is free, and you are invited to bring picnic baskets if you want but, please, no outside alcoholic beverages. Beer, wine and other beverages will be available at the park for purchase, in addition to food from Jason’s Mini Donuts and What’s Fore Lunch food trucks. The band will be Night Years. Don’t forget your lawn chairs, blankets and dancing shoes. The fun begins at 5:30 p.m., and continues until 9 p.m. Tufts Memorial Park is located at 1 Village Green Road W., in Pinehurst. For more information, call (910) 295-1900.
Meet the Author
In Frances Mayes’ new book, Women in Sunlight, three middle-aged, American women, Camille, Julia, and Susan, meet at an orientation for an active lifestyle community and decide to lease a villa in Italy. When they make friends with their American neighbor, Kit, the women begin to see new potential for themselves, rediscovering their sense of adventure over the course of a year in the land of la dolce vita. Mayes will be at The Country Bookshop on Thursday, April 12, at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the book, answer questions, and sign copies. Stop by, meet and get inspired by “the Bard of Tuscany,” author of Under the Tuscan Sun and much more. The Country Bookshop is located at 140 N.W. Broad St., in Southern Pines. Call (910) 692-3211 for more information.
Blues & Brews: A Festival at the Farm
Malcolm Blue Farm is a living history farm dating back to the early 19th century when the Sandhills area was known as the Pine Barrens. A visit to the farmstead and museum will give you a rare glimpse into the life of early settlers and on Saturday, April 21, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., you’ll get to enjoy a day of bluegrass performances by Tommy Edwards Bluegrass Experience, Unspoken Tradition, Time Sawyer, and Songs From The Road Band. You can stroll around the beautiful grounds, shaded by 100-year-old Darlington oaks as you enjoy the music and festival. Beer, cider and food will be available for purchase. Admission is $5. The Malcolm Blue Farm is located at 1177 Bethesda Road, Aberdeen. For more information, call (910) 944-7275.
Annual Home & Garden Tour
The Southern Pines Garden Club celebrates its 70th anniversary by inviting you into six gracious homes, enhanced by inspiring floral arrangements, and lovely gardens. The tour, on Saturday, April 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., includes “Loblolly” (the Lancaster Home), designed for Helen Boyd Dull, a Garden Club founder; the Saulnier Home, designed by Alfred B. Yeomans, a nationally renowned landscape architect who helped shape the Weymouth neighborhood in the late 1800s; and Liscombe Lodge in Pinehurst, once the home of Gen. George Marshall. Tickets are available at The Country Bookshop, The Sandhills Woman’s Exchange or www.southernpinesgardenclub.com, and are $20 in advance or $25 the day of, and include an orchid sale, a Pinehurst Resort greenhouse tour and restaurant discounts. All proceeds go toward community beautification and horticultural education projects. The tour begins at the Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. For more information, call (910) 690-1440.
The Miracle Worker
As a baby, Helen Keller was stricken with an illness that left her blind and deaf. As a young child, she was nearly feral. Yet she grew up to graduate cum laude from Radcliffe College and become an influential social and political activist and inspirational role model. The story of that transformation, made possible by her teacher, Annie Sullivan, is told in William Gibson’s play The Miracle Worker.
Judson Theatre Company brings The Miracle Worker to the stage at Owens Auditorium from Thursday through Sunday, April 12 to 15. The production stars John James, from TV’s Dynasty series, and New York actors Lea DiMarchi as Annie Sullivan and Allison Podlogar as Helen Keller. Owens Auditorium is located on the Sandhills Community College campus, at 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Tickets are $38 in advance and $43 at the door. Student, military and SCC discounts are available at the door. For show times and tickets, visit www.judsontheatre.com.
Southern Pines Springfest
On Saturday, April 28, more than 160 vendors from North Carolina and beyond will entice you with their beautiful paintings, jewelry, metal art, photography, woodwork, designs from nature, and more. For your entertainment, there will be games, rides, food and live music. Activities for kids abound on the Kid’s Block; and the Youth Bike Races for children 10 and under will have kids competing on their bikes, tricycles and Big Wheels. Sponsored by the Southern Pines Business Association and the Town of Southern Pines, the day of spring festivities happens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. along both sides of Broad Street in historic downtown Southern Pines. For more information, call (910) 315-6508. And don’t forget Springfest at Shaw House, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the corner of Morganton and Broad St., where tours and activities will be free for the day.
The Carolina Cabaret
Enjoy the Carolina Philharmonic’s “Broadway Cabaret” starring Jeff Kready, a suave song and dance man who appeared in A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder and Billy Elliott the Musical and Megan McGinnis, who debuted on Broadway in The Diary of Anne Frank and played Beth in the musical Little Women. With David Michael Wolff hosting from the keyboard, Jeff and Megan will take you on a journey through some of your favorite melodies, interlaced with riveting backstories. You can catch this intimate performance at either 3 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, at Owens Auditorium, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Tickets range from $30 to $60, with discounts for students and active military. For more information, call (910) 687-0287 or visit www.carolinaphil.org.
A Spirited Evening of Music
On Wednesday, April 4, the Southern Pines Sister Cities, under the musical direction of Baxter Clement, will present a community concert with local and Irish teen musicians. As part of the Sister Cities International Music Exchange Program, students from the Southern Pines area traveled to Ireland to study Irish music and perform, and the music students from Newry, Mourne and Down District of Northern Ireland are coming here to do the same. Come to the Sunrise Theater, enjoy the music and offer some warm Southern hospitality to these young visitors. The performance is free and starts at 7 p.m. The Sunrise Theater is located at 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Call (910) 315-4323 for more information.
