PinePitches August 2024
Right: Warm Lighting, by Courtney Herndon. 2023, Best in Show winner
Art Is All Around Us
Channel your inner art critic at the opening reception for the Arts Council of Moore County’s Fine Arts Festival from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 2, at the Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. In its 44th year, the festival provides a major platform for artists from all over the country to display their work. See which entries won cash prizes and ribbons, and gossip with your friends over whether or not you agree with the rulings. Go to mooreart.org for additional information. If your art appreciation runneth over you can attend the opening of “More Than Miniatures — Small Art” on the same day, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. For information go to www.artistleague.org. Either way, your eyeballs get a workout.
Start Counting
Become a citizen scientist for a day on Saturday, Aug. 24, when North Carolina joins forces with Georgia, South Carolina and Florida in the Great Southeast Pollinator Census. The Williamson Pollinator Garden at the Ball Visitor’s Center at the Sandhills Horticultural Gardens at Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst, will be the site for the census from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Prior to the 24th, those wishing to participate should register for a 15-minute interval to count pollinator interactions on a designated plant. For more information and to register go to www.sandhills.edu/horticultural-gardens/upcoming-events.html.
Double Your Pleasure
The Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines, offers two operas from The Met this month. The first, La Cenerentola (Cinderella), by Gioachino Rossini, is the story of Angelina, the stepsister who serves as the family maid who sings her favorite song about a king who marries a common girl. Destiny, anyone? It shows at 1 p.m. on Aug. 3. The second opera, Turandot, by Giacomo Puccini, tells the tale of Prince Calaf, who must solve three riddles to win the hand of the cold Princess Turandot. It will be screened at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24. For additional information visit
www.sunrisetheater.com.
On the Right
The James E. Holshouser Jr. Speaker Series presents L. Brent Bozell III, the founder and president of Media Research Center on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at 5 p.m. at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Rd., Pinehurst. A lecturer, syndicated columnist, television commentator, author and activist, Bozell is one of the most outspoken leaders in the conservative movement. He has been a guest on numerous television programs, including the O’Reilly Factor, Nightline, The Today Show and Good Morning America. He appeared weekly on the “Media Mash” segment of Hannity, on Fox News. Bozell received his B.A. in history from the University of Dallas.
Funny Days
Take a riotous musical journey back to 1967 with Jeffrey Hatcher’s side-splitting comedy Mrs. Mannerly starring Linda Purl (The Office, Happy Days, Matlock) and Jordan Ahnquist (Shear Madness), beginning Friday, Aug. 2, at 8 p.m., in the intimate McPherson Theater at the Bradshaw Performing Arts Center, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Set in Steubenville, Ohio, this uproarious play follows the ambitious and mischievous young Jeffrey as he enrolls in an etiquette class taught by the formidable Mrs. Mannerly, a teacher with a mysterious past and a zero-tolerance policy for rudeness. The show continues with performances on Aug. 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11. For tickets and information go to www.ticketmeshandhills.com or judsontheatre.com.
Farce in the Park
The Uprising Theatre Company will present William Shakespeare’s dang near slapstick saga of mistaken identity, The Comedy of Errors, beginning Friday, Aug. 16, from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the annual outdoor Shakespeare in the Pines production in Tufts Memorial Park, 1 Village Green Road, Pinehurst. There will be additional performances on Aug. 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25. For more information go to www.vopnc.org or www.ticketmesandhills.com.
Live After 5
Dance part of the night away with the Raleigh band Punch, whose song list stretches from ’70s and ’80s funk and retro to Motown, beach, country and jazz, at the Village Arboretum, 375 Magnolia Road, Pinehurst, on Friday, Aug. 9, beginning at 5:15 p.m. Whiskey Pines will take the stage as the opening act. As always, there will be kids’ activities, food trucks, beer, wine and low-octane beverages. For more information go to www.vopnc.org.
Jazz on the Green
The Sandhills Community College Jazz Band will feature the music of Henry Mancini and Stevie Wonder in its third and final concert of the 2024 Summer Concert Series on Monday, Aug. 12, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the library green of the SCC campus, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Max’s Millstone BBQ will serve food beginning at 5 p.m. The concert is free and, in the event of rain, it will move inside to Owens Auditorium.
Authors in the House
The Country Bookshop brings bestselling writer Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, to the stage of the Sunrise Theater at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20, to discuss her latest novel, A Great Marriage. Then, on Thursday, Aug. 22, at 7 p.m., the bookshop, at 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines, will host Wall Street Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein, who will discuss her much anticipated book, The Devil at his Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and Fall of a Southern Dynasty. For information and tickets to both events go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.