This winter, Richland Library along with End Child Hunger S.C. are inviting the community to special FREE screenings of the highly acclaimed documentary A Place at the Table.

The groundbreaking film tells the story of three American families dealing with hunger, and examines the connections between food access, food security and obesity on our communities and neighborhoods.

Following the FREE screening, a panel of local experts will host an audience discussion on child hunger in the Midlands and how the community can take action.

FREE Community Screenings:

•  2:30 p.m.   Saturday, January 24       Richland Library Main
• 2:30 p.m.   Sunday, February 8          Richland Library St. Andrews
• 6:00 p.m.   Tuesday, February 17       Grace Church
• 6:00 p.m.   Thursday, February 26      EdVenture Children's Museum

For more information on the film, the community screenings or to reserve a DVD copy of the documentary A Place at the Table visit www.richlandlibrary.com or call Community Relations at 803-929-3466.

The city of Columbia and the American Red Cross invite you to join a lifesaving team by giving blood. The fifth annual Columbia Lifesavers “Hoop it Up” blood drive is 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln St.

Over the years, the Columbia Lifesavers blood drive has resulted in 1,154 pints donated, potentially helping to save the lives of 3,462 individuals.

Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. There is no substitute. Hospitals and patients depend on the generosity of volunteer blood donors. The entire donation process takes only about an hour and in that short time, blood donors can score a potentially lifesaving three-pointer: Each donation can help save the lives up to three patients.

All presenting donors will receive a Red Cross T-shirt, a basketball stress reliever and a bag of Starbucks coffee, while supplies last.

For more information or to schedule an appointment to donate, download the Red Cross Blood Donor App, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit redcrossblood.org and enter sponsor code famouslyhot.

The Five Points community and The Fountain Division of W.P. Law, Inc. will welcome the green and Gaelic season with a FREE event for people of all ages at the fountain (intersection of Harden and Greene Streets).

Annually, hundreds of little leprechauns and their much taller chaperones participate in the Kick-Off to St. Pat’s, highlighted by:

• Children helping in the tradition of dyeing the fountain green,
• Entertainment from the nationally award winning Rince N’ah Eireann Irish step dancers, and
• Bagpipers in traditional Irish garb.

All children receive a goody bag of popcorn and are invited to join in all the Irish-themed fun!

The City of Columbia Parks and Recreation Department and the Columbia Sertoma Club have partnered to sponsor a citywide Community Garden Expo.

Join us for this FREE informative and hands-on gardening experience that will feature seminars, demonstrations, vendors and more. Garden experts such as Ed Brogden of Back to Eden will provide information on the economic, health and social benefits of community gardening.

The South Carolina State Museum will celebrate and immerse guests in South Carolina art during Art Day. ,The annual event will feature demonstrations and discussions by South Carolina artists, guided behind-the-scenes tours of the museum’s art storage areas, live music, hands-on activities, art exhibits, live performance art and the opportunity to participate in the destruction of a massive art installation.

Art Day offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into South Carolina art and artists with live, unique and interactive opportunities throughout the day.  Several artists featured in the museum’s current contemporary art exhibit, Building a Universe, will be onsite representing their work, including Jonathan Brilliant, who is inviting the public to help “destroy his Universe” by partaking in the breakdown of his massive installation made up of 50,000 coffee stirrers held together by tension.  In addition, Jon Prichard and Will Johnson will present their multidisciplinary ritual performance art piece, “Color Code.” Printmaker Gene Speer and ceramist Virginia Scotchie will also be onsite discussing their work. Building a Universe, closing Saturday, March 15, features original work from a variety of South Carolina artists whose work reflects the concept of the Universe, astronomy or science in either a direct or conceptual way.

The day will also feature live plein air painting from members of About Face, a group representing a wide range of ages and abilities, and demonstrations of pottery, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics and painting by South Carolina artists. Throughout the day there will be special guided behind-the-scenes tours of the museum’s art storage areas, which include more than 4,000 works of art dating between 1590 to present, live music and a variety of “creation stations” in which guests can participate in hands-on art projects inspired by the State Museum’s collection.

Calling all lean green running machines!!! The largest road race in the Midlands has added a 1-Mile Kids’ Fun Run to the perennial 10k, 5k and 1-Mile Walk! Race registration includes a wristband for FREE entry into the St. Pat’s in Five Points Festival ($15 value)!

The race will have participants chasing rainbows through the tree-lined streets of the Shandon neighborhood to the pot of gold at the finish line. The start line is located at the intersection of Blossom and Santee Streets with the race culminating at the finish line on Devine Street.

Overall top finishers and best dresses leprechauns will win CASH PRIZES and awards will be given for the top five finishers in age groups!

Visit gettothegreen.com for more information and registration details.

Live the luck of the Irish at this celebration that welcomes over 40,000 people to the eclectic Five Points business district in Columbia, SC every year. Continually growing and improving, the 2015 festival will include a 10K / 5K / Family Fun 1-Miler, fun-filled parade, expanded family entertainment, enhanced food and craft offerings, a special shag area honoring our state dance, a kid-approved Childrens’ Carnival as well as four stages on live music hosting over 15 musical acts.

Event Overview

What: The Midlands’ Largest Annual Street Festival & One of the Largest Celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day in the Southeast

When: March 14, 2014 | Gates open 9 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Where: Five Points, Columbia, SC

Who: 40,000+ Irish-for-a-Day

Why: To celebrate all things green and Gaelic, welcome the arrival of spring and promote the businesses in the Five Points village.

Schedule of Events:

7:30 a.m. – Get to the Green: 10K / 5K / Family Fun 1-Miler

10:00 a.m. – Annual St. Pat’s Parade: FREE Viewing on Devine Street

10:00 a.m. – Pot O’ Gold Playland: FREE family fun area in Martin Luther King Park

Noon – 3:00 p.m. – Shaggin’ on Santee: Celebrating our state dance

Noon – 6:00 p.m. – Live Musical Entertainment: Four Stages

4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Dub DJ’s

Performed by a bevy of USC’s world-class faculty and superb students, these major works take on extra-musical topics relating music and society/politics – and, quite apart from any lessons that might be imparted, are masterful, mesmerizing pieces of music. Stephen Hartke’s “Sons of Noah,” featuring USC soprano Tina Stallard and three highly unusual quartets of instruments – classical guitars, flutes and bassoons – sets a short story written during the Crimean War, the first modern conflict between the Islamic world and Europe: a satirical imagining of three “missing chapters of the Bible.” Hartke’s music has echoes of old and new styles, from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to Igor Stravinsky, and strikes a powerful emotional chord. Dutch post-minimalist icon Louis Andriessen’s De Staat (which, while composed in an entirely different style than Sons of Noah, also owes something to the rhythmic legacy of Stravinsky) sets texts from Plato’s Republic. The big, robust work with a large number of singers, brass, woodwinds, strings, pianos and electric guitars onto the stage will blow the roof off of the new hall!

The Columbia Museum of Art is thrilled to announce the 2015 Gala, A Fair to Remember, will be held on Saturday, March 21. The gala will celebrate the major spring exhibition, Charles Courtney Curran: Seeking the Ideal, with a grand party reminiscent of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, where the American Impressionist Curran exhibited his art and drew inspiration for several of his paintings. The Gala is the Museum’s largest fundraiser of the year and raises critical funds to support our mission to provide outstanding art and arts education for lifelong learning and community enrichment for all. About the Exhibition

The tour is spreading the bacon love around the country focusing on
local flavors, sights, and sounds as well as the America Loves Bacon Tour menu, which will feature dozens of delectable bacon delights. Other tour stop features include chef demonstrations, bacon eating contests, bacon-off competitions between local participants, live music, full bars, a children’s area, and much much more.

More here.