Spring piano recitals

The piano students of Tina Brown of Rockwell presented a spring recital on Saturday, March 11 in the Memory Care Unit at The Carillon Assisted Living of Salisbury. Solo and duet pieces were played by: Ashley Drye, Baleigh Trexler, Gage Trexler and Regan Williams.

Another spring piano recital was given at the Trinity Oaks Health and Rehab. Center in Salisbury on Saturday, March 18. Students that performed were Kayla Charles, Diego Corona, Hannah Davis, Ashley Drye, Macey Gordon, Joselynn Lugo, Landon Motsinger, Owen Overcash, Caroline Poole, Mattie Rose, Adam Thompson, and Regan Williams.

Both recitals featured folk songs, hymns, popular and classical works.

To learn more, call Tina Brown at 704-279-5976.

Rowan Redbuds 

The Rowan Redbuds Garden Club met March 23, at the Rowan Public Library. President Kim Fahs presided. If you are interested in visiting the club, call  704-754-8905 for more information.

Easter egg hunt

The annual Easter egg hunt at the Kennedy-Hall American Legion Post 106, 6250 Highway 801, is Saturday, April 1 at 2 p.m. There will be cupcakes and other refreshments and kids can get their picture taken with the Easter bunny. Eggs have money and candy, there are special prizes and special eggs, and the hunts are divided by age.

Granite Quarry /Shuford School reunion

Granite Quarry /Shuford School reunion will be celebrating its 16th reunion on April 14-15. The evening social on Friday, April 14 is titled “What’s Your Story?”

The Youth Film Group will collect the stories of reunion attendees that are 70 years old and up. They will capture their experience at Shuford Memorial School via video. There will be time slots for video interviews available on Saturday. Interested attendees will be able to sign up for a time at Friday’s reunion event. The video interviews will take place at Geneva Oglesby Center and will be used to create a short film about Shuford Memorial School.

For those interested in telling their story, there is a permission release form to be filled out. If interested contact Shirley Holmes at 704-232-5747 or Brenda Clinton at 704-433-4610 for the form.

Saturday registration and breakfast at is 8:30 a.m. followed by a business meeting, and a memorial service follows the Pink & Gray banquet.

The Kneeling Gardeners

KANNAPOLIS — The Kneeling Gardeners held their monthly meeting Feb. 27 at Trinity United Methodist Church. President Jean Kadela presided and Chaplain Jan Query led devotions.

The program for the evening was presented by Aaron Newton from Lomax Farm, the only certified organic incubator farm in the Southeast. Located in Concord, the incubator farm is a training ground where beginning farmers are taught valuable skills to help them grow the farm business. The farmers-in-training at Lomax Farm develop and manage their own farm-based business while receiving classroom instruction on the business of farming as well as hands-on experience on the farm.

They have a 3-5-year participation period at the farm. Lomax Farm staff then help the new farmers find land of their own. They offer land to develop production skills, shared facilities and equipment, including office, bathroom, greenhouse, high tunnel, post-harvest station, walk-in cooler, tractor and tools, hands-on training and consultations by Cooperative Extension staff.

The Elma C. Lomax Incubator Farm is growing a new generation of farmers. It was started in 2009 and the land is owned by Cabarrus County. In 2014 Carolina Farm Stewardship Association took over the 30-acre farm, which is a USDA certified organic operation teaching sustainable agriculture techniques. Farm tours are allowed and there is a volunteer day once a month when you can volunteer from 1-4 p.m. and then be provided a light meal.

Refreshments for the evening were served by Sylvia Foster, Patricia Rietfort and Jean Kadela.

Anyone interested in gardening is welcome to join us at 7 p.m. on March 27 when Mitchell Hagler will have a program on day lilies.

30th Hurley Park Spring Celebration

On Sunday, April 2, from 2-4 p.m. at Lake Drive and Annandale Avenue, the annual celebration features The Salisbury Swing Band, carriage rides by Horse & Carriage LTD of Salisbury, The Soap Bubble Circus, the Salisbury Symphony Instrument Petting Zoo, the Carolina Artists, an Arbor Day celebration sponsored by the Salisbury Tree Board, the Rowan County Master Gardeners and T-shirts by Ink-It.

Free refreshments will be provided by Cheerwine and Hurley Park. The event is free and open to the public. Call 704-638-4459 or email dbeck@salisburync.gov to learn more.

Strawberry keynote speaker

CONCORD — On April 6, former Major League Baseball player, Darryl Strawberry will be the keynote speaker for the Serenity House luncheon. He will share his own personal story of addiction and recovery. The luncheon will be held at All Saints Episcopal Church, 525 Lake Concord Drive, beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Hope Haven is also partnering with the Kannapolis Intimidators in this endeavor and Mr. Strawberry will be attending a VIP Meet and Greet and celebrating the Intimidators’ season opener.

Serenity House is a 10-bed residential aftercare facility provides rehabilitative services to chemically dependent men within a supportive environment, leading to independence.

RSVP to Hope Haven at 704-372-8809 (ext. 290) or visit www.hopehaveninc.org to learn more.

Lee Street theatre representives attend Southeastern Conference

Two Lee Street theatre staff members attended the 68th annual Southeastern Theatre Conference in Lexington, Ky. Marketing director Caitlin Billings and technical director Chris Speer attended the conference March 1-4.

For three days, Billings and Speer attended workshops taught by field professionals to hone their craft, listened to keynote speakers, attended performance festivals, conducted job interviews, and more. This is the first time in Lee Street theatre’s history that the company was able to represent itself at this conference. It was over the course of their three days that Caitlin and Chris interviewed nearly 200 applicants for Lee Street theatre’s 2017 Summer Internship Program.

This summer Lee Street theatre will welcome five interns onto its team to produce upcoming performances of Big Fish and St. Thomas Players’ Pride & Prejudice.  Learn more at Lee Street Theatre, 329 N. Lee St., 704-310-5507, www.leestreet.org