The Dearborn Animal Shelter is hosting a new fundraiser evening event at Park Place on Friday, Sept. 17 called the No Beast Feast.

According to organizers, the idea behind this vegetarian feast is to bring traditional comfort food favorites to the table made from vegetarian ingredients.

“People are seeking healthier food options for their families today and offering a traditional meal using imaginative vegetarian ingredients is a fun way for us to share in that trend,” said Elaine Greene, executive director of the Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter. “Many members of the community and our organization’s supporters are vegetarian, have vegetarian friends or are curious about expanding their food choices. This dinner is one way for us to bring everyone to the table to share in a meal.”

The No Beast Feast provides pre-meal snacks, a hearty meaty (meatless) entrée, potatoes and gravy, vegetable sides, fresh breads and delicious desserts. The evening’s activities also include door prizes, a tin can raffle, entertainment and more. Attendees will receive take home recipes to try vegetarian specialties in their own kitchens. All food is prepared to vegan.

The Friday, Sept. 17  event runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Park Place, located on the corner of Park Street and Outer Drive, just south of Michigan Avenue. Tickets are $45 in advance, $50 at the door and include dining, soft drinks, beer, wine and entertainment.

You can purchase tickets from the Shelter online at www.DearbornAnimals.org or by calling 313-943-2697. Proceeds benefit The Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter.

Jeff Karoub and Connor Garvey are bringing their Motown and Maine town roots to the same stage on Sept. 10 at the Raven Cafe in downtown Port Huron.

Port Huron is a hike, no doubt, but we wanted to mention the gig here because Karoub lives in the Dearborn Hills with his wife, three daughters and dog.

It’s the first collaboration for the two and a first appearance for both at the Raven, a well-known, music-friendly venue in the port city’s quaint downtown district. But it’s a homecoming of sorts for Dearborn-native Karoub, who worked several years ago at the daily newspaper in Port Huron and met the woman there who became his wife.  He also played some gigs at a restaurant down the street.

Karoub has performed throughout his native Michigan, either solo or as part of the duo ‘jar.’ Gigs of note have included the Flint Folk Festival, Baseline Folk Society, Manchester’s Gazebo Concert Series, the Riverfolk Festival and AJ’s Cafe’s world-record-holding Assembly Line marathon concert. He’s also played many of the region’s finer caffeinated establishments in and around Detroit, Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor.

Karoub’s pop-folk sensibility comes with some sonic extras, courtesy of his classical training and musical lineage. His father is a Detroit Symphony Orchestra veteran and Motown session man behind the killer French horn lick at the top of Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard it through the Grapevine.’ Jeff made sure that little history lesson made its way into ‘Made by Motown,’ a soulful homage he wrote that became a finalist in a theme-song competition for AJ’s Assembly Line concert in 2010. The singer, guitarist and fiddler is a professional journalist by day.

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The Dearborn High School Marching Band and Orchestra has been invited to march in the 2011 Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade but they need our help to try and get there.

To do that the band will be hosting a golf outing Sept. 12 at the Dearborn Hills Golf Course. Registration is at 10 a.m. and the four man scramble begins at 11 a.m., complete with golf cart. There will be plenty of food, beginning with coffee and sweet rolls in the morning, hot dog lunch and a nice steak dinner to cap the day’s eating.

There also is a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction.

The golf package is $90 per person or $350 for a foursome.

If you’d rather not golf but want to support the band, consider signing up for the dinner and silent auction, which is just $40 per person and includes two hours of “beverage service.”

Not just any high school band gets invited to perform in Dublin. You have to be good. And under the supervision of Dearborn High’s Music Director Jeff Oshnock, the Pioneers are outstanding. One proud parent tells us that Dearborn High School’s musicians score top rankings at solo/ensemble competitions and band reviews.

In 2008, the Dearborn High School Marching Band participated in the Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC. It was that performance that helped the band secure a position to perform in the 2011 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin.

There are some 119 people that will travel to Ireland, 18 of which are chaperons.

You can register and find more information http://dhs.dearbornschools.org/Music/Golf_Outing on the Band Aid Boosters link. So please consider sharing this story with your friends to help one of Dearborn’s great high school marching bands travel to Ireland.

Earlier this year, Dearborn announced that residents could create community gardens on city-owned vacant property in their neighborhoods.

The community garden in Dearborn's Aviation neighborhood was one of the first in the city.

While on the surface that seemed like a nice move by our city leaders, it appears city lawyers baked in so many conditions into the required permit that at least a couple of residents in one neighborhood were afraid to sign the document needed to begin a garden.

This resident sent Deepsaidwhat.com a detailed e-mail about their experience with the city when they went to inquire about whether city officials might consider amending the garden permit. Their concerns with the permit centered around several areas including these:

1. The person who signs the permit is responsible to compensate the city for whatever dollar amount it takes to restore the property to its original condition.
2. The permit is revocable at any time and for any reason.
3. Perennial crops are forbidden (e.g. no strawberries raspberries. blueberries, blackberries, or perennial herbs and flowers that attract pollinators, such as butterflies and bees)

Building a community garden takes a lot of time and effort, which is why this resident, an avid gardener herself, was reluctant to sign her name to the permit in its current form.

Her story about the experience she and her neighbor had with our city when they inquired about a community garden begins below.

Earlier this year, my neighbor down the street heard/read about permits available for residents interested in starting community gardens. To inquire further, she was put in touch with a person in the city’s neighborhood services department. She has several years experience gardening and is living next door to a vacant lot (there was a fire in the house that was there and the city later came and removed the remains of the house).

My neighbor was on board to sign the permit and move ahead, however, the permit appeared too risky and she decided against signing it. I heard about her desire to do this project, several months later, and I, also an avid gardener with an interest in community gardens, was interested in this project, too. I was enthusiastic about going ahead with a garden here until I too saw the permit.

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