Village Living March 2015

Volume 5 | Issue 12 | March 2015

Village Livingneighborly news & entertainment for Mountain Brook

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Sponsors ..........A6City .....................A7Business ...........A9Community .......B7

School House...B10Sports ...............B13 Faith ..................B17Calendar ..........B18

INSIDE

facebook.com/VillageLiving

VillageLivingOnline.com

See page B2

Summer fun

See page A14

Inside, fi nd our guide to the best summer camps for kids. From sports to outdoor adventures, we break down the basics of area programs.

Every community has people and causes that make a difference. This issue includes a ballot for our cause and community member of the year. Cast your vote by March 8.

Community awards

C O M M U N I T Y

MEMBEROF THE YEAR

C O M M U N I T Y

CAUSEOF THE YEAR

Mountain Brook’s ambassador

Bill Cabaniss’ diplomacy journey documented in new book

Catherine and Bill Cabaniss walk in front of their Mountain Brook home. The couple lived in Prague from 2004-06 while Bill served as ambassador to the Czech Republic. Photo by Karim Shamsi-Basha.

By MADOLINE MARKHAM

A large painting canvasses the left wall of the entry to the Cabaniss home off Old Leeds Road. On it, faces of elderly women sitting and talking show their resilience from surviv-ing 40 years of Communist control.

Catherine Cabaniss had invited this group over once a month to have tea in their resi-dence while her husband, Bill, was serving as ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2004-2006. One day, instead of conversing with her in broken English and broken Czech, they asked Catherine to paint them.

Works of various Czech artists the Cabanisses befriended during those years now accentuate their home, but most of Bill’s memorabilia lives in his Offi ce Park offi ce. As ambassador, his focus had been on the polit-ical and business community — a realm in which he had spent most of his career, only most of it had been in a very different climate back in Alabama.

See CABANISS | page A22

See TRAFFIC | page A21

By MADOLINE MARKHAM

Mike Kaczorowski slowed his car into a stopped queue on Montevallo Road at 5:52 p.m. on a Tuesday evening. He thought that allowed him plenty of time to turn onto Church Street and make it to City Hall for a 6 p.m. meet-ing, but he was wrong. He arrived at 6:05 p.m.

A few minutes late, Kaczorowski, a planner with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPCGB), raised his hand to share his experience sitting on Montevallo Road. After all, the purpose of the Feb. 10 meeting was to get public input on which Mountain Brook intersections most needed improvement

Using this public input, the city and Skipper Consulting have been working to select approximately eight intersec-tions for a detailed traffi c analysis and development of recommendations for improvements.

At the top of the list so far is the Church Street-Mon-tevallo Road intersection. About half of the comments from residents were about this intersection and the inability to turn left from Montevallo onto Montrose.

“It’s not intuitive, particularly for people who don’t travel it often,” said resident Katie Grayson, whose

Intersection traffi c solutions examined

Jennifer Holmes of Skipper Consulting discusses intersections under consideration for study with City Council Member Lloyd Shelton at a Feb. 10 meeting. Photo by Madoline Markham.

Referred for a reason.

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In our community, we have so many individuals who are not only talented but also share those tal-ents in ways that benefi t others. With that in mind, we came up with the Com-munity Cause and Commu-nity Member of the Year awards to recognize those individuals and organiza-tions. The ballot appears in this issue, and voting will take place through March 8 at villagelivingon-line.com/award. Every organization nominated either is based here or was founded by a Mountain Brook resident, and the cause winner will receive a cash

donation. So help us spread the word to vote and support your favorite!

Activities seem to always pick up in the spring. Moun-tain Brook Village’s Spring Soiree will feature all sorts of fun festivities including the unveiling of all the mer-chants’ new spring lines. I am excited about Mason Music supplying the enter-

tainment, too. Some of their students will be playing live music at different points around the village. So come out and enjoy the evening.

The fi rst ever Steeple to Steeple un will be held March 21. This run will

benefit the United Methodist Chil-dren’s Home. Mountain Brook resident Rebecca Morris of UMCH has orga-nized the event to raise awareness of these homes and the stability they pro-vide children who can no longer live with their families for various reasons.

With spring break this month, we also have some tips to help you and your family to enjoy it safely. Here’s hoping that everyone has a great week off and stays safe while having fun.

Please Support our Community PartnersPhoto of the month

Editor’s Note By Jennifer Gray

About Us

A Little Something (A22)Alabama Allergy & Asthma Center (A21)Alabama Gaslight & Grill (A12)Alabama Outdoors (A23)Alabama Power (A15)Amy Smith (B12) Batts’ Chimney Services (A13)Bedzzz Express (B20) Birmingham Bicycle Company (A19)Birmingham Botanical Gardens (B14) Birmingham Speech and Hearing Associates (A13)Bromberg & Company, Inc. (A7)Case Remodeling (A7)Classic Gardens (A8)Cottontails Village (B12)Dish’n It Out (A6)Eufaula Heritage Association (B17) Ex Voto Vintage (A20)Family Share Massage (A8)Fi-Plan Partners (A9)Fitness Zone (A22)Garage Experts (B8) Granite Transformations (A18)Great Smiles Orthodontics (B1) Hollywood Feed (B11) Hufham Orthodontics (B11) Issis & Sons (B15) Jacqueline DeMarco (B8) King’s House Oriental Rugs (A21)La Catrina Mexican Cantina (A2)Lane Parke - Evson Inc. (B13) Leaf & Petal (A19)Liberty Park (B18)Linda Dobbins Dance (B6) Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce (A17)Mountain Brook Merchants Association (A11)Mountain Brook Trading on Dexter (A18)Otey’s (B9) Over the Mountain Glass (A20)Pars Gallery of Fine Oriental Rugs (B10) RealtySouth (A24)Red Mountain Theatre Company (B2) Renasant Bank (A5)Samford Summer Camp (B5) Swoop (A18)Taco Mama (B12) The Altamont School (B6) The Blue Willow (B9) The Highlands School (A23)The Maids (A1)The Scribbler (B14) TherapySouth Crestline (A3)Trinity Medical Center (A17)TRX Fitness - TrainSmarter (A12)UAB Department of Psychiatry (B16) UAB Vein Clinic (B7) Vitalogy Wellness Center (A6, A15, B17) Weigh To Wellness (A10)Whale of a Sale (B8) YMCA Camp Cosby (B3) YMCA of Greater Birmingham (B4)

Legals: Village Living is published monthly. Reproduction or use of editorial or graphic content without prior permission is prohibited. Village Living is designed to inform the Mountain Brook community of area school, faith, family and community events. Information in Village Living is gathered from sources considered reliable but the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. All articles/photos submi� ed become the property of Village Living. We reserve the right to edit articles/photos as deemed necessary and are under no obligation to publish or return photos submi� ed. Inac-curacies or errors should be brought to the a� ention of the publisher at (205) 370-0732 or by email.

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Please submit all articles, information and photos to: [email protected]. Box 530341Birmingham, AL 35253

Village LivingSchool House Contributors: Catherine Gasque - Cherokee Bend, Collins Clegg - Crestline, Kathleen Woodry - Brookwood Forest, Elizabeth Farrar - Mountain Brook High School, Hilary Ross- Mountain Brook Elementary, Dena Berte - Mountain Brook Junior HighContributing Photographers: Karim Shamsi-Basha, Image Arts

Dan StarnesKeith McCoyJennifer GrayMadoline MarkhamDavid KnoxKatie TurpenJessa PeaseSydney CromwellMadison MillerEmily VanderMeyMatthew AllenRhonda SmithWarren CaldwellDon HarrisMichelle Salem HaynesKari KampakisVillage Living LLC

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There were signs of spring on a winter Saturday on the Jemison Trail. Photo by Ivey Jackson.



City

Offices to replace abandoned Dexter Avenue homeBy SYDNEY CROMWELL

The house at the corner of Dexter Avenue and Vine Street has sat vacant for seven years. It was unusable as a residence, but the lot was too small to rezone to another district, City Planner Dana Hazen said. This was the reason that the new Vine Street Transitional District was created.

Hazen said the transitional district opens the lot at 30 Dexter Ave. to new development. Lot owner John Bryant and architect Louis Nequette have a plan to replace the abandoned

home with a 5,500-square-foot office building.The office building would hold two tenants

and a basement storage area. Bryant said there would be two main entrances to the lot and 21 parking spaces. He envisions the new office space as the home of a bank, medical practice or law office.

Bryant received his rezoning approval from the planning commission in December and was scheduled to go before the city council on Feb. 23 for final approval. He estimates that construction will take eight to ten months from the approval date.

Dungan Nequette Architects designed the office space at the corner of Dexter Avenue and Vine Street. This rendering shows the exterior of the planned building. Rendering courtesy of John Bryant.

Council updatesBy MADOLINE MARKHAM

At meetings last month the city council:

} Heard a presentation on a traffic study pro-posed for English Village including exit from Little Hardware and left-turn arrow from Cahaba Road southbound onto Fairway Drive.

} Discussed purchasing of a portion of Rami Achdut’s property to be added to Cahaba River Walk. Achdut’s residence is located on Overton Road along the park’s southern boundary. The city would pay $15,000 for two parcels that total .17 acres. Achdut requested that magnolias, American hollies and wax myrtles be planted on the property as a part of the agreement, which the council approved.

} Approved the city’s lease of athletic fields to the Board of Education. These properties include the junior high football field and the high school’s Field No. 1, Softball Field House, Field No. 1, Upper Soccer Field, Tennis Courts and Lower Soccer Fields, as well as each elementary school’s fields.

} Discussed additional work for the Cahaba River Walk project. Nimrod Long discussed sidewalk and drainage improvements on Oak-dale Road that would be subcontracted by Dunn.

} Elected Virginia Smith chairman and Billy Pritchard vice-chairman of the Mountain Brook Emergency Communications Dis-trict and appointed Police Chief Ted Cook as its district administrator and City Clerk/

Finance Director Steve Boon as its district clerk. The council also adopted the district’s operating budget, transferred funds, entered a service agreement with 911Consult, Inc., approved the purchase of E911 hardware

} Adopted a new set of codes and repealed sec-tions of the city code. The 2015 International Building Code, 2015 International Residential Code, 2015 International Fuel Gas Code, 2015 International Mechanical Code, 2015 Interna-tional Plumbing Code and 2015 International Fire Code will become effective on April 1. Sections of the city code repealed were 109-31, 109-32, 109-195, 109-227 and 18-20.

} Heard a presentation of audited financial statements for the year ending Sept. 30, 2014.

} Authorized a service agreement between the City and McWane Science Center.

} Delayed authorization of the installation of a streetlight in the alley behind 708 Euclid Ave. and 707 Braddock Ave. It will be placed on an existing utility pole. Resident Christie James of 710 Euclid Ave. requested the city add the light because “it is pitch black at night without a single street light.”

} Adopted a new plan for the city’s medical insurance plan regarding Section 115.

} Approved a franchise agreement for South-ernLight, LLC to use city right-of-way to provide local exchange telecommunications services.


Historical displays could come to City Hall

By MADOLINE MARKHAM

Pieces of Irondale Furnace history could soon be on display at City Hall.

At its Feb. 9 meeting, the city council discussed Birmingham History Center’s proposed display of artifacts from the Irondale Furnace. The collection would

rotate every four months for a year. The city is considering purchasing display cases that cost about $1,200 each.

“It’s a suggestion of how to get some of our history back on display for the public,” said Alice Williams, presi-dent of the Jefferson County Historical Association.

The Irondale Furnace Trail marks the history of Birmingham’s iron ore industry.

Work underway to improve Lane Park RoadBy MADOLINE MARKHAM

Work began at the end of January on Lane Park Road as a part of the new Lane Parke development.

The project involves redefining parking spaces next in front of the development’s new apartments, laying new asphalt on the road and restriping the road and parking spaces.

“Ultimately it will improve the road and the traffic flow,” said John Evans of

Evson Inc.Traffic could be delayed entering and

exiting Mountain Brook Village during the project. One side of the road at a time will be closed for periods of time. Evans said that the side of the road adjacent to the new Grand Bohemian Hotel and Lane Parke apartments will require more work than the Botanical Gardens side of the road.

The project should last 60-90 days, depending on the weather.

Scam callers attempt to collect money from residents

Several Mountain Brook residents have reported receiving phone calls supposedly regard-ing warrants for their arrest on Jan. 28.

Residents said persons claiming to be employ-ees of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office told them warrants had been issued for their arrests, and that they would need to make a cash payment in order to not be arrested. The callers attempted to set up meetings with each victim to collect payment. According to police, this language is not normal protocol for any law enforcement agency. Jeffer-son County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that this is a scam.

Police warn not to meet with anyone making this type of request. Please contact Moun-tain Brook Police at 802-2414 if you receive a scam call.

Arrest made for West Jackson robberyA new suspect has been arrested for a robbery

on West Jackson Boulevard that occurred on Jan. 14.

Derick Izel Brown, age 20 of Birmingham, was arrested on Jan. 16 and charged with fraudulent use of a credit card. The card was stolen in con-junction with a robbery on the 3700 block of West Jackson Boulevard.

Counterfeit check used in Mountain Brook Village

A suspect is in custody for a counterfeit check case on Jan. 27 in Mountain Brook Village.

A counterfeit check was used to make a $13,000 purchase in the 2800 block of Cahaba Road.

Raymond Ethan Thomas, age 38 of Ridgeland, Mississippi, was arrested on Jan. 30 for first-de-gree theft and possession of a forged instrument. He is now in custody at Jefferson County Jail.

Feb. 5-12Unlawful Breaking Entering Vehicle. On Feb.

9, a UBEV occurred in the 2800 block of Cahaba Village. Unknown suspect(s) entered into an unlocked vehicle and stole a purse and credit

cards. On Feb. 6, a UBEV occurred in the 200 block of Office Park Drive. Unknown suspect(s) forced entry into a toolbox on a truck. The sus-pect(s) stole tools.

Criminal Mischief. On Feb. 6, a criminal mischief incident occurred in the 3300 block of Overton Road. Unknown suspect(s) broke out the windshield of a vehicle. Also on Feb. 6, an unknown suspect(s) broke out the windshield of a vehicle parked in the 3700 block of Briaroak Circle. The victim heard his vehicle alarm acti-vate at 3:35 a.m. and went outside to discover the damage.

Jan. 30-Feb. 4Unlawful Breaking Entering Vehicle. On Jan.

31, a UBEV occurred in the 100 block of Rock-dell Lane. Unknown suspect(s) entered into an unlocked vehicle and stole an iPad and a com-puter. Between Jan. 30-31, a UBEV occurred in the 3200 block of Rockledge Road. Unknown suspect(s) entered into an unlocked vehicle and stole sunglasses and a Garmin GPS.

Theft of Vehicle. Between Jan. 30-31, a 2008 Ford Expedition was stolen in the 2900 block of Fairway Drive. The vehicle was unlocked, and keys had been left in the vehicle.

Theft of Property. On Feb. 2, a theft was reported in the 100 block of Peachtree Road. The unknown suspect(s) stole a printer that was deliv-ered from the porch of the victim’s residence on Dec. 17.

Between Dec. 15 and Jan. 31, unknown sus-pect(s) stole a bicycle from a residence in the 2600 block of Canterbury Road.

Jan. 23-29Theft of Property. On Jan. 28, a theft occurred

in the 2800 block of Cahaba Road. A counterfeit check was used to purchase property. MBPD has a suspect in the case and is pursuing leads.

Case Update. Jonathan D. Chambers, age 20 of Birmingham, has been arrested and charged with Unlawful Breaking Entering a Vehicle. The charge is in relation to a UBEV that occurred on Jan. 10 in the 400 block of Meadowbrook Lane.

CRIME REPORTVillageLivingOnline.com March 2015 • A7

Traffic improvements coming to South Brookwood and Overhill

By MADOLINE MARKHAM

Concerned residents will soon see changes to traffic patterns in front of Brookwood Forest Ele-mentary School and at the inter-section of Hastings Road and Laurel Lane.

The Mountain Brook City Council approved changes to these area recommended by Skipper Consulting at its Feb. 9 meeting.

Brookwood Forest’s prin-cipal and vice principal have both expressed approved of the proposed plan in meetings with Skipper Consulting.

During a Feb. 9 public hear-ing, resident Kimberly Fasking said she is concerned that people won’t pay attention to new signs and that she is concerned for the safety of her kids when people continue to violate the double yellow line. She asked that the council look more at a permanent fix for the situation.

“I think it’s a reasonable first approach to resolve the situation there,” Council President Vir-ginia Smith said in response.

In response to comments, Smith asked Skipper Consulting and Mountain Brook Police look into the feasibility of adding a guardrail on South Brookwood.

See the chart on the right for more details on the road changes.

South Brookwood

Road

OverhillRoadThe problem

Cars are going around a stopped queue on South Brookwood Road during after-school carpool times and creating potential harm to students who walk home from school.

Study recommendationsIncreasing police enforcement of the speed limit on the road, especially around the start and end of the school day. The average vehicle speed on the road is 34 mph, almost 10 mph above the posted speed limit of 25 mph.

Installing signage that would restrict carpool vehicles from turning right onto South Brookwood from the school’s upper access and left onto South Brookwood from the school’s lower access from 2:45-3:15 p.m.

Installing four “do not pass” signs on South Brookwood in advance of the area where the queue forms.

Replacing the flashing warning signs in the school zone.

Sending a letter to students’ parents about enforcing traffic patterns and the proposed new signage and turning restrictions.

City ordinance stipulationsTurning right on South Brookwood Road northbound and turning left turn on South Brookwood Road southbound at the upper access to the school from 2:45-3:15 p.m. is now prohibited.

The problemThere is minimal sight distance to exit Laurel Lane onto Overhill Road.

Study recommendationsReplacing the intersections’ two yield signs with stop signs.

Adding two stop signs along with an additional stop sign on Laurel Lane.

Removing vegetation in the right of way and possibly also private property to clear the sight lines.

City ordinance stipulationsStop signs will be installed per Skipper’s recommendations.


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Christine’s to close after 42 years

By ROY L. WILLIAMS

Christine’s owner Jean Clayton has been selling linens, dinnerware, frames and other gifts in Mountain Brook Village since April 1973.

This April, the boutique shop owner is retiring after 42 years in business. Clayton said she is closing the shop after her lease at 2415 Montevallo Road expires on April 30.

“April will be the beginning of my 43rd year, but it’s time to move on. It’s been a great journey,” Clayton said. “I’ve been doing this so long that it’s in my blood. I am still leaving my options open.”

After retiring, Clayton said she plans to spend more quality time vis-iting family, traveling, doing mission work and volunteering. Those are passions that she didn’t have much time to do running Christine’s, which has been a focus of her life for four decades.

Christine’s is named after her mother, who is now 93. Clayton said she came up with the idea of the business after taking family vaca-tions to Florida with her parents and finding unique gifts not available in Birmingham.

Business was slow at the beginning when she started as she sold items that took a while to catch on.

“Birmingham was a different place

Owner Jean Clayton retiring April 30

in 1973, very traditional. Some of the merchandise was ahead of what our customers wanted and expected at the time,” Clayton said. “We then built a name for ourselves and a loyal cus-tomer base.”

The key to Christine’s 42 years in business has been her focus on cus-tomer service and filling gift needs unavailable anywhere else. Her shop has customers from across the globe,

from California to London, who stop in while visiting relatives and friends in Mountain Brook.

“The customer is not always right, but you’ve got to treat them as if they were,” Clayton said. “It’s rare, but if someone comes in dissatisfied, I never get into an argument. I ask what can I do to make it right. You may lose money on them, but you get it back by winning that customer for life.”

Christine’s has been in its current location on Montevallo Road for five years, and before that was a block away on Petticoat Lane. The original location was nearby on Canterbury Road. Clayton said Mountain Brook Village is a more shopper-friendly place than it was 42 years ago.

Clayton used to own a children’s boutique shop, Christine’s Across-the-Street, but sold the business. She

also operated a store called Bagatelle, which sold fine bedding, tablecloths and linens, before combining it into Christine’s. For many years, Clayton operated a similar store in Fairhope, called Christine’s By the Bay, before selling it in 1998.

Clayton played a major role in the formation of Market Day, an event in Mountain Brook Village where mer-chants unite each summer to sell their wares on the street outside their stores. The daylong festivities, started in the 1990s, attract shoppers from across metro Birmingham.

The original concept was born out of a sale Clayton held at Christine’s every year to celebrate Bastille Day, a French holiday celebrating the storm-ing of the Bastille.

“Bastille Day was a result of me representing a French linen company and their promotional materials at their request,” she said. “A few years later, we changed the name to Market Day.”

Market Day is held the third Sat-urday in July and is now run by the Mountain Brook Chamber of Com-merce. It attracts shoppers from sev-eral states.

Nan Teninbaum, who has worked at Christine’s for 35 years, said she will miss spending time helping customers at the shop.

“I’ve met people that I never would have if not for working here,” Tenin-baum said. “I love the merchandise, I love the atmosphere. It’s the people who come to Christine’s that make it so special.”

Jean Clayton has been packing up inventory at her Montevallo Road store to prepare for her retirement this month. Photo by Madoline Markham.


Business

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Montevallo Rd

Montevallo Rd

Lane Park Rd

Cahaba RdHollywood Blvd Bro

ok Pkwy

Mounta

inO

verbrook Rd

Montrose Rd

Church St

Euclid Ave

Montclair Rd

Country Club Rd

Fairway Dr

21st Ave S

ENGLISHVILLAGE

MOUNTAINBROOK

VILLAGE

CRESTLINEVILLAGE

280

31

149Shades Creek Pkwy

Overton Rd

Mountain Brook

Business Happenings

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Now OpenLilla, a designer and boutique consignment shop for women,

is now open at 236 Country Club Park between Snoozy’s and Snap. Its sister store, Little Lavender, is located at 81 Church Street.803-3958

StrategyWise, a data analytics and marketing consulting fi rm,

has relocated from the Wells Fargo tower in downtown Birmingham to 3 Offi ce Park Circle, Suite 320.1-888-623-3282, strategywise.com

News and Accomplishments

iRevive, formerly located at 2710 Culver Road, has changed

its business model to a mobile repair service. The company specializes in cosmetic repair of mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets and more. They no longer work from a storefront, instead offering their services on the go.370-2022, ireviveonline.com

Steel City Pops, located at The Pantry, 17 Dexter Ave., is now

selling Cookie Pops, which feature a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie or

brownie frozen inside of a traditional pop. Flavors include Vanilla Chocolate Chip, Vanilla Brownie, Chocolate Brownie and Coffee Brownie.803-3585, steelcitypops.com

Hirings and Promotions

RealtySouth’s Mountain Brook-Crestline offi ce, 105

Euclid Ave., has welcomed Jen Brown as a new Realtor.879-6330, realtysouth.com

AnniversariesA’mano, 2707 Culver Road, is celebrating its 18th anniversary

in March.871-9093, amanogifts.com

Tonya Jones SalonSpa, 2410 Fairway Drive, celebrated the

fi rst anniversary of its English Village location in February.870-4247, tonyajonessalon.com

Birmingham Speech & Hearing Associates, 4 Offi ce

Park Circle, Suite 301, is celebrating its 35th year in business this year.871-3878, birminghamspeechandhearing.com

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Email [email protected]

to share?Business news

Now OpenComing SoonRelocationExpansionAnniversaryIf you are in a brick and mortar business

in Mountain Brook and want to share your event with the community,

let us know.

Village LivingivingivingVillage

By MADOLINE MARKHAM

A new women’s upscale consign-ment store has opened in Crestline Village. Lilla, the sister store of Little Lavender, is located between Snoozy’s and Snap Kids on Country Club Park.

The store sells exclusively boutique and designer clothing, shoes, handbags and jewelry, along with some staple items from stores such as J.Crew, Anthrologie and Banana Republic.

Its name, which means purple in Italian, signifies stability and luxury just like its sister store’s.

The former Mountain Brook Inte-riors space Lilla occupies now has its own dressing rooms, oversized mir-rors and crystal chandeliers. Racks made of pipe add an industrial, art deco feel to the space.

Little Lavender began as an online children’s consignment business 10 years ago. Two years ago, Faith Gard-ner purchased the business, and a year later she opened its first storefront next to Church Street Coffee & Books.

Little Lavender now also sells sample and overstock items in-store and online in addition to its consigned items.

Since she took over the business, customers had been asking Gardner if she would consign women’s items. Eventually, she started accepting extra-small tops and women’s shoes for pre-teen girls, and in December Gardner first started taking all women’s items.

Before she knew it, Jimmy Choo shoes, Burberry bags and other designer pieces were flooding her inventory. By early February, she had a storefront for the new sister business.

Gardner said Mountain Brook Trad-ing and other trading websites have helped her business by increasing the popularity of consigning in the community.

“That shows how far the thought with pre-owned clothing has come,” Gardner said. “People realize they can have fabulous pieces that have only been worn once.”

As a rule of thumb, Lilla’s mer-chandise sells at 20 to 30 percent of

Store finds niche in women’s

designer consignment

Faith Gardner, right, is opening Lilla, a sister store to Little Lavender, in Crestline Village. She is pictured with Laura Jett Walker, who photographs and styles items for Gardner’s businesses. Photo by Madoline Markham.

its original retail value. For instance, a $120 top usually runs about $34 in the shop. A Chanel handbag in excellent condition might run closer to 50 per-cent of its original value, Gardner said.

Lilla’s sellers receive 50 percent of the selling price, and there is a 90-day consigning period. Clothes that are not sold can be retrieved or donated at the end of the consignment period. Gard-ner is currently looking for a local organization to donate these items

to; she gives children’s items to My Child’s Closet.

Lilla also offers layaway for items with a minimum price of $200.

So far Lilla’s women’s selection has attracted women from their 20s to their 60s, and Gardner said she looks forward to growing her clientele to draw shoppers from outside Moun-tain Brook.

For updates on Lilla’s merchandise, visit the store’s Facebook page.

Lilla236 Country Club Park Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.803-3958


Relaying cultureMBJH students to connect with Kenyan students through running program

By MADOLINE MARKHAM

A group of Mountain Brook girls are forming friendships with girls in Kenya this spring, but they didn’t have to get on a plane to do so.

Starting in February, around 20 eighth and ninth graders at Mountain Brook Junior High are participating in Culture Relay, a cross-cultural running program that is partnering with Moi Girls School in Nairobi, Kenya. As the Mountain Brook girls were coming back from Christmas, the Nairobi girls were starting their school year.

“It’s great for our kids to get involved not only from running stand-point but also that they get to draw relationships during the school day over Skype with kids in other coun-tries,” said teacher Brook Gibbons, who is leading the Relay group.

Gibbons learned about Culture Relay last spring when her daughter Hannah participated in its pilot pro-gram at Homewood High School. Knowing that the junior high had recently added a weekly Spartan club period, Gibbons thought Culture Relay would be a good fit for some of her students.

“It’s a great way on a virtual level to discuss what’s going on in the female world and how you are going to be an empowered female,” she said.

Over the course of eight weeks, the groups at both schools are interacting

through Skype as a class, and each stu-dent is assigned a one-on-one virtual pen pal to get to know.

In addition, the girls are coming before school twice a week to train for a race with another MBJH teacher, Brittney Wilson. The girls are at different levels of athletic

experience; some have never run before.

At the end of the program, all the girls in both countries will run a 5K. During their club time the Mountain Brook students are planning their own course with plans for the money they raise to go to Culture Relay.

Gibbons said they are considering doing a color run.

“It’s really up to the girls,” she said. “They decide what their project is going to be.”

This spring simultaneous Cul-ture Relay programs are connecting American girls, including a group

from Woodlawn High School, with girls around their age in Chile, Belize and Honduras.

Tracey Abbot, a five-time mara-thon finisher who founded Culture Relay as a part of her participation in the Aspen Institute, ran the pilot program but now has trained facilita-tors like Gibbons to lead the curricu-lum she tested last year. Although she is now a New York resident, Abbott grew up in Birmingham and travels back often to administer the program and see her mom.

“It’s meant to teach that the virtual world can still have interaction in it, that you can form relationships with-out physical contact,” Abbott said. “It’s about understanding a lot can be accomplished with technology.”

Abbott said she is particularly excited about programs in Central America.

“Girls programs really don’t exist there,” she said. “It’s really resonating with the women there because it’s all about the boys.”

In the future, Abbott hopes to form a larger Culture Relay race in Bir-mingham as she fosters relationships with international schools that she hopes will continue in the long term.

As Abbott will tell you, Culture Relay isn’t necessarily about running. It’s about connecting cultures through running.

To learn more, visit culturerelay.org.

Mountain Brook Junior High students prepare for the cross-cultural running program they are beginning this month. Photo by Madoline Markham.


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Winners will be announced in our April issue with a feature story. The winning cause will also receive a cash prize donation. Nominee descriptions were submitted by community members.

The chamber promotes community businesses through its Live Local campaign and a variety of other programs. Each year the chamber is instru-mental in bringing the Village 2 Village Run, Market Day and other events to fruition. welcometomountainbrook.com

The Friends group has printed a list of birds in Jemison Park as well as a history booklet. Its members remain active in preserving the land that runs alongside Shades Creek and Watkins Brook and its trails and park areas.

Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce

All In Mountain Brook is truly a communi-ty-based organization that strives to educate our Mountain Brook youth and their parents about the issues such as drugs, alcohol and mental health that young people face. It hosts activities aimed at equipping youth and adults with the information and tools to help them maneuver through and overcome these issues. allinmountainbrook.org

Inspired by the blue bow campaign for Sean Fre-della in late 2011, two Altamont students started sewing pillowcases to give to patients at Chil-dren’s of Alabama. Karen Carroll, Grace Carroll and Nell Fredella remain active in creating and distributing the cases with donations from com-munity members. angelpillowcases.org

All In Mountain Brook

Junior League of Birmingham

Alabama Forever

Mountain Brook Sports Corporation

Each year, this volunteer organization of 2,400 women devotes almost 40,000 hours and over $750,000 directly into our community. Since 1922, the JLB has trained volunteers to become community leaders. Its office is located just out-side English Village.jlbonline.com

Alabama Forever, located in the heart of Cres-tline Village, is a niche nonprofit organization that receives grant applications from all over the state, not just one area. Alabama Forever uses donations, mostly from Mountain Brook residents and businesses, for the development of students, athletes and the community.alabamaforever.org

Since 1998, this organization has raised money for athletic programs at Mountain Brook High School and Mountain Brook Junior High School. Each spring it holds a golf tournament to raise funds. Recent projects have included a football field house and a concession stand and press box and Spartan Stadium.

Brown Bag Project

Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation

PreSchool Partners

This ministry of Canterbury United Methodist serves the “working poor,” those who find them-selves in need of assistance for the first time in their lives. Each Friday, volunteers pick up baked goods from Publix on Overton and Western in Mountain Brook Village and then distribute meal bags to clients. canterburyumc.org/brown-bag-project

This independent non-profit corporation secures resources from individuals, corporations and foundations to support technological advances and professional development for the staff of Mountain Brook Schools. Each fall it holds the Fashions for the Foundation event at The Club.mtnbrookschoolsfoundation.com

Now in its 20th year of operation, this program prepares inner-city preschool children and their parents for kindergarten in the Birmingham City Schools. Today most of its staff members are Mountain Brook residents. Its classrooms will move into a new building in May. preschool-partners.org

Friends of Jemison Park

Angel Pillowcases

by M

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Mountain Brook is full of people making a difference in our community, and we need your help to give them the recognition they deserve.

Go online to cast your vote for Village Living’s Community

Cause of the Year.VOTE

villagelivingonline.com/award

C O M M U N I T Y

MEMBEROF THE YEAR

C O M M U N I T Y

CAUSEOF THE YEAR



No

min

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Winners will be announced in our April issue with a feature story. Nominee descriptions were submitted by community members.

President and Co-founder of Alabama Forever

Originally created to serve state wide neigh-bors affected by the tornadoes of 2011, Alex’s philanthropic vision of Alabama Forever has completed more than 50 projects statewide. The organization has handed out more than $300,000 dollars worth of goods, services and supplies.

Chairman of Capstone Real Estate Investments

Mike’s passion for giving back to the commu-nity is exceptional. Mike and his wife, Kathy, bought the old McElwain Elementary School for PreSchool Partners, and Mike is co-chairing the capital campaign to build a new facility for the program. He previously spearheaded a similar project for the Cottages at Lakeshore.

Alex Sokol

State Representative

Beginning this year, David is the Alabama House Rep. for District 46 and also is an attorney with Christian & Small. Around Mountain Brook, he is involved with St. Luke’s Church, Young Life, youth sports and Bigtime Ministries.

Community Volunteer

Steven is a lifelong resident of Mountain Brook. He served as the 2011 president of the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce and a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook. He is also is the president of BREC, a Commercial Development Company that spe-cializes in senior housing.

David Faulkner

Alison Scott

Suzan Doidge

Leigh Ann Sisson

Junior League of Birmingham President

Alison leads the more than 2,400 volunteers of the Junior League, which is headquartered in English Village, to support non-profits and com-munity initiatives throughout the Greater Bir-mingham area. Under her leadership, the JLB has expanded its commitment initiatives for lit-eracy and school readiness.

Director of the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce

Suzan’s energy and enthusiasm for the City of Mountain Brook carry over to her outstanding efforts as the director of the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce. Her business savvy along with her interpersonal skills make her a wonderful representative for our community.

Community Volunteer

Leigh Ann is known for lending a helping hand wherever she goes. She has been involved with PTO, her family’s church, youth sports and oth-er community causes over the years and most recently helped launch All In Mountain Brook.

Nimrod WE Long III

Laura Silsbee

Alice Womack

Landscape Architect

Nim has been an advocate for sidewalks in Mountain Brook for years beginning with the Jemison Trail. He has not only been the advo-cate but has also designed and helped implement the pathways throughout our city.

Mountain Brook Trading Founder

Laura started Mountain Brook Trading as a Facebook group in 2012 to provide an outlet for selling within the community, and the group has now grown into its own website and retail busi-ness. She also started the group What’s Happen-ing in Mountain Brook.

City Council Member

Alice is one of the two newest City Council members and has faithfully served on Mountain Brook City Schools Foundation Board and the city’s Finance Committee. She is a lender and relationship manager with First Commercial Bank and previously was president of Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce for two terms.

Mike Mouron

Steven Hydinger

C O M M U N I T Y

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VOTEMountain Brook is full of

people making a difference in our community, and we need your help to give them the recognition they deserve.

Go online to cast your vote for Village Living’s Community

Member of the Year.

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Local author pens book with former major league catcher

By DAVID KNOX

Doug Wedge is an attorney, but his first love is writing. His second love just might be baseball.

Let’s amend that. His first love must be his wife, Shawn, if for no other reason — and I’m sure there are others —than that his brother-in-law is Charlie O’Brien. And that familial connection has led to the 40-year-old Mountain Brook resident’s rookie offering as an author, The Cy Young Catcher, in bookstores this month.

O’Brien’s name might not jump to mind for casual baseball fans, but it certainly does for Braves fans and diamond aficionados. O’Brien spent 15 years in the major leagues, playing for eight different teams, two of those with the Atlanta Braves. He was on the 1994 and 1995 teams — the ’95 team was the Braves’ only World Series championship team in Atlanta.

But O’Brien’s claim to fame — and the reason he and Wedge collaborated on the book — is that in his long career as a backup catcher he called pitches for 13 different Cy Young win-ners, some of the most famous pitch-ers of the era. The Cy Young is given to the best pitcher in each league after each season.

The list? Braves Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Steve Bedrosian; Roger Clemens, Frank Viola, David Cone, Pat Hentgen, Jack McDowell, Dwight Gooden, Bret Saberhagen, Pete Vuckovich

and Chris Carpenter. Three of those he caught during their Cy Young seasons — Maddux, Hentgen and Clemens. He caught those three for four Young winners in a row (Maddux ’94-’95,

Hentgen ’96 and Clemens ’97). It was Wedge’s idea for the book

after his brother-in-law had mentioned the number of award winners he’d caught.

“Around Christmas about four years ago, I said to him, ‘No one else has done this, what do you think about doing a book?’” Wedge said. “And he said, ‘OK, let’s give it a shot.’”

Wedge had been an English major at Tulsa University before going to law school and had several short sto-ries published. But this was a step up into major league nonfiction.

Charlie O’Brien leads a conversation on the mound as a member of the New York Mets. Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University Press.


He started with research of the pitchers and interviewed O’Brien some 20-25 times over a period of three years, Wedge said. As he started writing it, he admitted it was “dry — like a lawyer was writing it” — and he hit on the idea of having a chapter about each pitcher and leading the

chapter off with the pitchers’ recol-lections of working with O’Brien. He started with Greg Maddux, and he interviewed the Hall of Famer. He was pleased with how much Maddux — and ultimately all of the pitchers — shared about working with O’Brien.

It helped that O’Brien was highly

respected by the pitchers he worked with. For some, like Maddux, Hentgen and Gooden, he was their “personal catcher,” meaning that they regularly worked games together and the usual starting catcher got the day off. Usu-ally, that was because a pitcher had a certain rapport with O’Brien.

“He had lots of credibility,” Wedge said. “The pitchers added an interest-ing element, talking about what it was like working with him. It helped because there were things Charlie was fuzzy about that they recalled.”

The book isn’t a transcript, Wedge said, even though it’s written in first

“ ”[I] crafted it like a story. The goal is I wanted to capture his voice. It took maybe seven drafts.

Mountain Brook’s Doug Wedge is co-author with former big-league catcher Charlie O’Brien of The Cy Young Catcher. Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University Press.


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person. He took what O’Brien told him in the interviews and “crafted it like a story. The goal is I wanted to capture his voice. It took maybe seven drafts.”

There’s enough “inside baseball” to please hard-core fans and, a word to the wise, since this is in a professional athlete’s voice, it is not a G-rated read.

Wedge wrote the pitchers’ prefaces to each chapter. He interviewed 12 of the 13 in person or on the phone. Vuckovich was interviewed by email.

A sampling from the chapter on Greg Maddux:

“The biggest thing Charlie did was his set up was relaxed and calm. There was not a lot of jerky movement in his glove. He didn’t drop. His ass wasn’t higher on breaking balls and lower on fastballs, like you see a lot of catchers. He set up consistently. He wasn’t outer half on one fastball and two inches off on the next one – he was always in that perfect spot.”

There are also interesting takes on Clemens, for whom he testified in the steroids trial. For longtime Braves fans, there’s a Bob Didier anecdote, and for Barons fans, there’s McDow-ell and also an anecdote about Don Heinkel, now Dr. Don Heinkel, who lives and practices in Oneonta.

By 2014, Wedge was ready to shop the book around, and there were rejec-tions. But it found a home with Texas A&M University Press, which has a “Spirit of Sport” series. The 208-page book with some 15 color photos is set to be released March 22, and early plans are that it would be available at Little Professor as well as online.

One book signing is already sched-uled. O’Brien and Wedge will be sign-ing copies at a Birmingham Barons game May 1, and O’Brien will do the honors of tossing out the first pitch of that game.

You’d have to guess he’d call his own pitch on that one.

Staying safe over spring breakBy MADISON MILLER

Chad Lindsey warns parents to not underestimate what could happen. As Panama City Beach deputy police chief, he has seen that students on spring break can get in trouble, even if they stay with their family and simply venture out solo on the beach with friends.

Lindsey and Gavin Kostelecky of the Orange Beach Police Department spoke at a series of spring break safety talks organized by All In Mountain Brook in January.

Both officers have spent many years patrolling the beaches during spring break and have witnessed what they describe as preventable accidents that have resulted in the injury or death of many young persons. Much of this is due to the extreme volume of visi-tors that the beach sees during this time. Although only 14,000 people reside in Panama City Beach, the beach receives approximately 13 million visitors per year, many of those between March and early April when schools nationwide release students for spring break.

In the large crowds that this time of year produces, it is often difficult for beach police to do their job. Lindsey warns that a happy crowd can turn into a dangerous one quickly, especially when alcohol and other substances are involved. Parents might believe that their children would never participate in inap-propriate behavior, but Lindsey knows that every person on the beach is someone’s child. In spring break situations, Lindsey refers to the behavior of these dangerous crowds as having a mob mentality, in which people in the mob react to disruptions in a way that they ordinarily would not. A small fight can turn into a crowd of 100 or more people, Lindsey said.

Still, Lindsey and Kostelecky said they do not want to discourage people from visiting the beach.

“I guarantee your children can have fun in Panama City without getting drunk,” Lindsey said.

Instead, they want to make parents aware of what their children should know before heading down for spring break fun. See the sidebar for their suggestions.

For more information, visit allinmountainbrook.org.

Chad Lindsey addresses Mountain Brook parents about spring break safety. Photo by Madison Miller.

} Don’t drink alcohol if you are under 21. Countless acci-dents, injuries and death occur to minors during spring break every year. In these instances, alcohol is usually involved. Lindsey and Kostelecky also pointed out that in several cases, the alcohol was given to minors by a parent or guardian. This can easily become a danger-ous situation for themselves and others, they said. To prevent accidents from occurring, make sure that your underage students do not have any alcohol.

} Stay together in groups. Lindsey has seen several cases of individuals robbed or assaulted simply because they were alone and were seen as an easy target. Al-though the idea of spring break was started for students,

many other “predators” visit the beach to take advan-tage of young visitors. Traveling in groups often prevents predators from targeting the members of the group.

} Pay attention to your surroundings. Spring break often leads to a lowering of inhibitions, but that should not mean that students should stop paying attention to details around them. Lindsey said he often deals with victims of an attack who cannot describe their attacker in a detailed way, either because they were under the in-fluence of alcohol or drugs or they were just not paying attention closely enough. Being able to recognize when a situation feels wrong will help prevent visitors from becoming victims.

Safety Tips


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driveway lets out into the intersection.From mid-January to mid-February,

residents submitted comments regard-ing intersections to Skipper. From those comments, Skipper compiled a list of 17 intersections to consider studying. Those on the list are:

} Overton Road at South Brookwood Road

} Old Leeds Road at Cherokee Road } Montevallo Road at Church Street } Mountain Brook Parkway at Over-brook Road/Pine Ridge Road

} Cahaba Road at Lane Park Road } Montevallo Road at Cahaba Road } Cahaba Road at 21st Avenue South and Fairway Drive

} Montevallo Road at Overhill Road } U.S. 280 at Mountain Brook Center } Montevallo Road at Overbrook Road } Pine Ridge Road at Old Leeds Road } Old Leeds Road at Beechwood Road } South Brookwood Road at Brook-wood Forest School

} Church Street at West Jackson Boulevard

} Montevallo Road at Euclid Road/Leach Drive

} Country Club Road at Salisbury Road } Country Club Road at Ridge Drive

Many other intersections under con-sideration are on Montevallo Road in addition to the Church Street one. One commenter called it “the U.S. 280 of Mountain Brook,” Richard Caudle of Skipper Consulting said.

Caudle said that there are a variety of traffic factors involved that vary by the intersections. At Church Street and West Jackson Boulevard, drivers are concerned about parents parking on the side of road, and this will change to one-way with Piggly Wiggly development in the next year. At Euclid and Montevallo,

half of the intersection is in the city, and half is out. At Old Leeds Road and Cherokee Road, residents are concerned about sight distance when you turn left as you come off Cherokee.

“There’s a story behind every one of these that are up there,” Caudle said. “All of the solutions are not going to be adding pavement. Some may be as simple as adding signal times or strip-ing. We don’t need to think every one of these is going to involve a $500,000 road widening.”

Resident Britton Carter expressed concern about the Mountain Brook Parkway-Overbrook Road intersection during the Feb. 10 meeting.

“It’s fine most of the time, but if the school or church is letting out, it can take you 25 minutes to get through the intersection,” he said. “I think it’s a simple timing of the light issue. During those times it’s a nightmare.”

This traffic improvement project is a joint effort between the city and the RPCGB, with a portion of the funding provided by the APPLE (Advanced Planning Programming and Logical Engineering) program. An APPLE grant will pay 80 percent of the project cost, and the city will fund the remaining 20 percent. In total about $50,000 is avail-able for improvements.

Caudle also stated that certain roads including Montevallo, Montclair and Overton could be eligible for federal funding if the council wants to put together a project, but Kaczorowski said that these sorts of projects usually take a minimum of three years to receive federal funds.

Using their observations of these intersections and input from city offi-cials, Skipper prioritized the most important ones and presented them at a Feb. 23 pre-council meeting. For updates from the Feb. 23 council meet-ing, visit villagelivingonline.com.

TRAFFICCONTINUED from page A1


Parnell, Gray reign at Krewe Ball

Boutwell Auditorium was transformed into a Mardi Gras-style carnival in February for the 48th Annual Beaux Arts Krewe Ball.

King Leighton Calhoun “Foots” Parnell III and Queen Caroline Nabers Gray descended on their thrones, followed by the presentation of Ladies in Waiting Virginia Hagood Drennen, Mary Vir-ginia Grisham, Mary Elizabeth Hobbs and Vir-ginia Gilder Smith as well as the other princesses.

Queen Caroline, a graduate of Mountain Brook High School, is a junior at Vanderbilt

University, where she is majoring in European history and minoring in studio art and corpo-rate strategy, and has also studied at the London School of Economics and in Florence, Italy. She is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Eugene Gray and the granddaughter of Marguerite Jones Harbert and the late John Murdoch Harbert III, and Mary Evelyn Gray Schollian and the late Euel Dean Gray. She wore the dress her mother wore as queen in 1982.

Queen Caroline Gray and King Foots Parnell with their train bearers, dukes and guards. Photo by Images Arts.

Bill Cabaniss holds a copy of the newly released biography about his career as a businessman, politician and ambassador. Photo by Karim Shamsi-Basha.

CABANISSCONTINUED from page A1

This journey, and all of Bill’s life, has been chronicled in a new biog-raphy, William Jelks Cabaniss, Jr.: Crossing Lines In His Business, Polit-ical, and Diplomatic Life, written by Worth Earlwood “Woody” Norman Jr.

A mission for changeAfter serving four years in the

Army following graduation from Van-derbilt University, Bill and his wife, Catherine, returned to Birmingham in 1964. He had grown up in Mountain Brook, where his dad had served on the first Mountain Brook City Council and he attended Shades Valley High School one year before leaving for boarding school in New Jersey.

In 1970, he became the owner of a small metal grinding company. His business travels around the Southeast in this role introduced him to compa-nies’ negative view of Alabama.

“I was as unpolitical as anybody could be, but the more I talked to plant managers moving their compa-nies to the South, the more I learned about Alabama politics,” Bill said. “That began a question as to who was at work in Montgomery and began a buildup of a feeling [of wondering,] ‘If I can run for the legislature, could I make a difference?’”

At that time, he had never been inside the state Capitol building — he thinks he might have been sick on the day of that school field trip. But beginning in 1978 he would spend three months a year there for the next 12 years, working to change the busi-ness environment of the state, among other issues.

In 1966, Leland Childs of Mountain Brook had been the first Republican elected to the Alabama Senate since

Reconstruction. In 1978, Bill was one of four Republicans elected among 105 legislators in the State House.

Author Norman notes that although these four were not the first Republi-cans in the House, they were the first to continue in office “long enough to establish the voice and credibility of Republican leadership in the State of Alabama.” According to Norman, 1978 “marked the potential emergence of Alabama as a two-party state where Alabama citizens could experience competitive political engagement.”

Ushering in a new eraBill remembers when he first

started in the Legislature, one Dem-ocrat he passed daily would ask him, “What are you Republicans going to do today?”

“I guess they had never seen a Republican legislator before, but I think he finally figured out that Republicans are not all bad people,” he said.

Bill became fast friends with Fob James, who was governor during his House term, because both were new to government and came with busi-ness backgrounds. They both wanted to change Alabama’s antibusiness, “jackpot justice” reputation.

One way to make that change was by changing tort laws, but getting there meant starting an uphill battle against the strong plaintiff lawyer influence, Bill said.

His second term in office, this time in the state Senate, was also an uphill battle for the first four years.

“The mood was not friendly to business issues until a vice president from Boeing, which had a plant in Huntsville, came to Huntsville and told [Governor] George Wallace publicly that Boeing wouldn’t add one more employee in Alabama until the employee lawsuit problems were

fixed,” Bill said.At the same time, more and more

Democrats were abandoning conser-vative positions for more liberal ones, and conservative Democrats were switching parties. When district lines were redrawn in 1983, 16 Republicans and eight independents entered the Alabama Legislature, providing help

to push bills that Bill and his com-rades had been trying to pass.

Furthermore, in 1986, a Republi-can governor, Guy Hunt, came into office. Bill said the next four years in office were much friendlier to busi-ness development, but that wasn’t the only matter on their agenda. Republi-cans’ attempts to create a state ethics

commission were defeated three times.

“There were a few of us Republi-cans, very much the minority, trying to pass strong ethics laws,” Bill said. “We were trying to change the way govern-ment in Alabama had been working. It was very special interest-oriented.”

Over just more than a decade in office, Bill said the Republicans grad-ually saw more and more legislation pass as more people were elected who cared about the business environment in the state, job creation and the Legislature’s ethical conduct. It was changes during this time that would pave the way for Mercedes to come to the state in 1993, with much growth in the auto industry in the state to follow.

Budding relationships with the Bushes

Bill first met the father of the pres-ident who would appoint him ambas-sador at an event in Birmingham at Temple Tutwiler’s house. Temple’s daughter, Margaret Tutwiler, had advised Bill in running his first cam-paign and would go on to work for George H.W. Bush’s campaign in 1980.

Catherine would become friends with Barbara Bush later when, follow-ing the death of the Cabanisses’ son, Catherine took up a career as an artist and spent summers in Maine paint-ing. When Bill would go up there, he would see George H.W. and would meet his son, George W. Bush, whom Cabaniss said was “just a young man” at the time.

In 1988, Bill was chair of the Ala-bama delegation to the Republican Convention that nominated George H.W. for president. That year Bush Sr. would also come to Alabama to help Bill campaign for his run for Senate (he would lose to Democratic incum-bent Howell Heflin) and attend a rally


Bill Cabaniss served in the state legislature for 12 years before being appointed ambassador to the Czech Republic. Photo courtesy of Bill Cabaniss.

a reception for judges who came to Prague shortly after being freed from Iraq, and in 2005 George W. Bush came to the country to attend the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Plzen by American troops in 2005.

Bill spoke to many college classes and was impressed by how many of the country’s young people spoke English well, as well as by their kind-ness. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the Czech Republic was one of the first countries to send relief supplies without being asked. After the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, the Czechs sent mobile hospital units into the country, and when they found many Afghan children had a congeni-tal heart condition, they would fly the children and their parents to Prague for a procedure that would correct it.

Since returning to Birmingham, Bill has been active with the Amer-ican Friends of the Czech Republic. Most recently, they have installed a bust of former president Vaclav Havel next to one of Winston Churchill in the Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C. Havel, a leading dissident, poet and playwright, was the country’s first president after the Russian rule ended. Bill is also part of an effort to build a Havel Presidential Library in Prague that will be the first library established outside the U.S. that will be dedicated to a foreign leader.

“We want to remember his contri-butions to freedom and human rights during that time,” Bill said.

William Jelks Cabaniss, Jr.: Cross-ing Lines In His Business, Politi-cal, and Diplomatic Life, by Worth Earlwood Norman Jr., is available at Little Professor Book Center, the Print On-Demand center at the Brook-wood Books-A-Million, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and booksamil-lion.com.

at the BJCC. The state was familiar to him, Bill said. Bush Sr. would come to fish with his friend Ray Scott, who founded the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, outside Montgomery, and George W. had worked for the 1972 U.S. Senate campaign for Winton “Red” Blount, a Montgomery native who had served as U.S. Postmas-ter General under President Richard Nixon and would start the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

“[The Bushes] were very fine people,” Bill said. “[George Herbert Walker] has had a long career in gov-ernment responsibilities, so he was well qualified to be president.”

Fast-forward to 2003. The Cabanisses attended a barbecue George W. and Laura Bush hosted in Texas to thank their supporters. At the event, George W. said something about wanting to learn more about the art in the White House. Catherine would later write him to offer her help with that as an artist, and the couple received an invitation to dinner at the White House to talk about art. That night, Laura Bush asked Bill if he would be interested in serving as an ambassador.

“It came out of the clear blue sky,” Bill recalled, but he told her he would be honored to do so.

In January 2004, he was installed as ambassador to the Czech Republic, where he would serve through 2006.

Czech diplomacy The Cabanisses’ time in the Czech

Republic allowed them to act as part-ners. Bill developed relationships with political and business leaders in the country while Catherine entered the Czech art community. They would bring together people for receptions at their residence in Prague.

“If it hadn’t been for her involve-ment in the arts, I would never have gotten to know people outside the

political and business community,” Bill said. “It was a wonderful merging of different groups of Czechs.”

Unlike the business environment he had experienced in Alabama in the 1970s, the Czech Republic was welcoming U.S. plants and offices at the time due to its strong business environment and its positive national feeling toward the U.S.

Going back to the end of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson was close friends with Czechoslovakian

President Tomas Masaryk. General Patton’s Army liberated part of the country during World War II, but afterward the Soviet Union gained control of the country. Before World War II, Czechoslovakia, with its mere population of 15 million, had the ninth largest economy in the world, but things changed under Communist rule. Cabaniss said the people were “basically captives of the Commu-nists.” After 40 years of their rule, the country became free and, a few years

later, peacefully split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

“The Czechs gave a lot of credit to Reagan and George H.W. Bush for the wall coming down and supporting the path to freedom for countries like Czechoslovakia in 1989,” Bill said.

When the Cabanisses arrived 15 years later, Bill was optimistic about the country’s future and the character of its people.

While the Cabanisses were serv-ing, their Prague residence also held

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Two communities come togetherSteeple to Steeple Run benefits United Methodist Children’s Home

By MADISON MILLER

Rebecca Morris is a believer in second chances. She helps children and families earn them every day as vice president of external affairs at the United Methodist Children’s Home.

Morris, a Mountain Brook resident and member of Canterbury United Methodist Church, often finds that people in her community are unaware of UMCH and the children in its pro-gram. With this and her passion for running in mind, she developed an event to help raise funds for the homes and help build community connec-tions. The first Steeple to Steeple 5K and Fun Run will be held on Saturday, March 21.

The United Methodist Children’s Home specializes in caring for chil-dren of many different backgrounds and circumstances who can no longer live with their parent or guardian.

Selma once housed the main campus of the children’s home system, but it closed in 2009 to better accom-modate children’s connections in their own communities.

“Taking them away makes it harder to redevelop connections with par-ents,” Morris said.

Although there is no longer a large local campus, several smaller homes throughout the state care for children

and are in need of funds to continue operation.

Morris hopes not only to bring com-munity awareness to UMCH with the 5K and fun run, but also to unite commu-nities by creating a point-to-point race from Trinity United Methodist Church

in Homewood to Canterbury United Methodist Church in Mountain Brook.

To help organize the race to best fit each community, Morris enlisted others. Homewood’s Jennifer Andress, who recently finished her third term as president of the Birmingham Track

Club, is a member at Trinity. Leigh Ann Sisson, a co-founder of the com-munity youth organization All In Mountain Brook is a member of Can-terbury. Morris hopes that help from Andress and Sisson will bring the communities together to show support

for the children’s homes. Although many of the organizers

are runners, Morris encourages groups of all kinds to participate in the 5K and fun run at their own pace.

“It’s not just for people trying to set a personal record,” Morris said.

The Steeple to Steeple 5K will begin at 8 a.m. and the fun run will begin at 9 a.m. on March 21 at Trinity United Methodist Church. The race will end at Canterbury United Methodist Church. A family fun zone will also be available after the race. Registration is $35 for the 5K and $20 for the fun run.

For more information, visit steeple2steeple.com.

Steeple to Steeple RunSaturday, March 21

Start: Trinity United Methodist Church

End: Canterbury United Methodist Church

5K: 8 a.m. start, $35

Fun run: 9 a.m. start, $20

steeple2steeple.com

Community volunteer Jennifer Andress, Rebecca Morris, volunteer Drue Miller and board member John Miller gather near part of the course for the first annual Steeple to Steeple Run. Photo by Madison Miller.

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SECTION BCommunity B7School House B10Sports B13Calendar B18

Village Living

For kids who feel like all the world’s a stage, Red Mountain Theatre Company’s Broadway Bootcamp provides the opportunity to hone singing, dancing and acting skills.

With five different levels, this camp is not just for the experienced actors. The Basic and Blast Bootcamps are non-auditioned. Basic Bootcamp is geared toward children age 4-6 for the development of their creative skills. Each week, students will use music, crafts, dance and drama to explore a different theme such as oceans, superheroes or fairytales. The other non-audition type camp is Blast Boot-camp, which teaches kids and teens age 7-18 all the basic skills of musical theatre through music, dance and acting.

Students can audition for the Recruit, Inter-mediate and Advanced Bootcamps on March 14 and 15. Recruits, age 7-18, will learn spe-cialized skills like improvisational comedy, jazz dance and choral singing. This camp focuses on enhancing the performance skills of all young artists. Intermediate Bootcamp is for students, age 9-15, who are ready to take their theatre training to the next level. Students

Play a part

Broadway Bootcamp June 1-19

Red Mountain Theatre Company

redmountaintheatre.org/broadway-

bootcamp.html

[email protected]

324-2424

will gain skills in intermediate dance steps and song interpretation.

Advanced Bootcamp is for students, age 13-18, who will focus on learning complex production numbers straight from the Broad-way stage. Students train for three weeks to become triple-threat performers, becoming experts in singing, dancing and acting. This elite camp is for those who want to be the best of the best.

Village LivingB2 • March 2015

As days turn warmer, it’s time to start thinking about summertime at last, and no summer is complete without a camp experience.

Whether your child likes to swim, dance, act, paint, play or learn, opportuni-ties abound in our area and beyond for daytime and overnight camps. Peruse our guide to learn more about which programs best fit your child’s personality, interest, age and availability.

No matter which you choose, it’s time to jump in for fun and adventure this summer!

Summer Camp GuideSpecial Advertising Section

Children always come back with a story to tell after their summer adven-ture at YMCA’s Camp Cosby. From zip lines to time on the lake, the camp offers something for everyone.

YMCA Camp Cosby offers a one-week, co-ed safe experience for kids ages 6-15 on the shores of Logan Martin Lake. The camp gives kids a chance to play hard, make new friends, and have the adventure of a lifetime in a safe, fun,

and structured environment. “My summer at Camp Cosby was so

much fun,” said one camper about the summer experience. “I jumped off the blob and got soaking wet, I got to ride the zip line and splash in the lake, and I made a ton of new friends.”

The camp’s 93rd season will open on Sunday, June 7, and camp gates will open at 3 p.m. Children can choose from eight week-long camp experiences. Each

camp week concludes at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The camp’s cost is $595 a week with a $50 discount for YMCA members. For 5 and 6 year olds, a three-day program called Buckaroos is offered. Its cost is $275 for YMCA members and $325 for nonmembers.

For registration information, email [email protected] or visit camp-cosby.org.

Embark on a summer adventure at Camp Cosby

Camp Dates:June 7-13, 14-20, 21-27, June 28-July 4, July 5-11, 12-18, 19-25, July 26- Aug 1

2290 Paul Bear Bryant RoadAlpine, Alabama256-268-2007campcosby.org

YMCA Camp Cosby

VillageLivingOnline.com March 2015 • B3Special Advertising SectionSummer Camp Guide

At the YMCA of Greater Birming-ham, children are invited to participate in a variety of summer day camps at each of nine YMCA locations. The YMCA believes that education is important for every child, and has com-bined learning and fun together for its summer programs.

Examples of specialty camps offered include Lego Camp, Drawing Camp, Photography Camp, Future Inventors Camp, Outdoor Adventure Camp, Super Hero Science Camp, Sports

Camp and Clowning Around Camp. The YMCA Hargis Retreat, located

on 200 scenic wooded acres complete with hiking trails, a pool, fields for games and lake, is an ideal backdrop for traditional camp activities. Day Camp activities at Hargis Retreat include swimming, archery, arts and crafts, chapel, canoeing, hiking, field games, fishing, rock climbing, inflat-able toys, mountain biking, outdoor survival and fishing. Weekly sessions are from May 26-Aug. 1. There will

also be open houses on site on March 29, April 11 and April 26 from 2-5 p.m. each day.

Register online for camps at ymcabham.org/summerdaycamp2015 or ymcabham.org/hargisretreat. Note that parents will still be required to complete all required paperwork when registering online. There is a $25 per child registration fee due at time of registration.

Enjoy fun all summer long with the Y

Camps will be offered at Hargis Retreat and the following YMCA locations:

Alabaster, Greystone, Hargis Retreat, Hoover, Northeast, Pelham, Shades Valley,

Trussville,Western Area, Youth Center

Visit ymcabham.org/summerdaycamp2015 for specific dates for each location.

YMCA of Greater Birmingham Summer Day Camps and Hargis Retreat

Village LivingB4 • March 2015Special Advertising SectionSummer Camp Guide

Samford University 800 Lakeshore DriveVarious dates in June and Julysamford.edu/programs/summer-programs/

Adventures in the arts and more at Samford

When classes end for the summer, the fun begins at Samford University. The campus hosts a variety of learning experiences for students of all ages in June and July. From music to arts to medicine, there’s a place for everyone.

For a musical experience, there are options for any age. All Aboard for Music Camp teaches children ages 3-6 through movement, song, rhythm, instruments and performance. Piano and voice students in grades 1-12 can enhance their solo and ensemble performance, music history and theory knowledge through Adventures in Music Camp. Grades 7-12 can also further their performance abilities while increasing general knowledge of music in a Piano and Chamber Music Institute.

For the budding actor or actress, Imagine! offers a one-week (for grades K-5) and two-week (for grades 6-12) opportunity to plan, create and participate in a theatre production. The older stu-dents will perform in Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit by Jonathan Rand.

Young artists can join artist Carolyn Wass to explore expression through drawing, kiln-fired clay, acrylic and watercolor painting techniques, printmaking and paper marbling in Academy Art Summer Camp for grades 7-12.

There are also a variety of enriching options for high school students. A Summer Debate Insti-tute will emphasize 21st century debate skills for grades 9-12, and a Minority Youth Science

Academy offers college preparation and men-toring for students interested in science. Ani-mate, scheduled for June 29-July 3, offers an intergenerational workshop on worship and the arts for young artists and their mentors.

For juniors and seniors looking to explore future careers, a J.D. Calling program June 24-27 features a mock trial, analysis of legal case and advice about law school application; M.D. Calling features pre-medicine advis-ing, expert panels, networking; and Bulldog Pharmacy Camp allows them to participate in hands-on pharmacy science lab demon-strations and tour local health-care facilities. Those interested in literature can also engage in lively discussions about great books through the Great Ideas Summer Institute July 5-10 or 12-17, and for the math-minded, another insti-tute allows students to study mathematical and analytical methods used in modern finance.

VillageLivingOnline.com March 2015 • B5Special Advertising SectionSummer Camp Guide

The Altamont School offers a variety of enriching and entertaining experiences for students each summer.

Summer programs are a great way for pro-spective families to learn about Altamont and current students to get ahead for the upcoming year.

High school students can take a variety of credit courses. Standard classes such as such as Geometry and Health are offered in addition to more unique subjects such as Speech, Lab Techniques, and Ancient and Medieval Cul-tures. Noncredit review classes in Algebra are also available.

Day camps for third through eighth-grad-ers offer grade-level appropriate enrichment. Among other offerings, fifth through eighth-grade students can register for a three-week afternoon course that teaches outdoor pho-tography as well as a week of dramatic study focused on Shakespeare.

For kids with athletic interests, a basketball camp is offered June 8-11 or June 22-25, and a soccer camp will run May 26-29. And for kids

Academics, sports and music enrichment at Altamont

Altamont School High School Credit Courses

Day Camps for Grades 3-8

Sports Camps

4801 Altamont Road South

June 1-July 10

altamontschool.org/summer

who prefer music, Band Camps offer fifth to eighth-graders an opportunity to learn to play an instrument, and sixth through eighth-graders who have completed a year of band wanting to improve their playing to the next level.

Whether a child participates in an academic or athletic experience, they will experience acceleration and enrichment at Altamont.

Village LivingB6 • March 2015Special Advertising SectionSummer Camp Guide

Summer camps at Linda Dobbins Dance are more than dance lessons, they are a chance for children to imagine and explore the world of performing arts. Children can expect field trips, crafts, acting, dancing and singing during the day camps. Break dancing, hip hop dancing, crafts and fun will be a part of the hip hop camps.

Linda Dobbins Dance has been in business since 1996 and has produced some of the best dancers in the area. The studio specializes in many types of training including jazz, hip hop, lyrical, ballet, contemporary, modern, clogging, tap, vocal and acting. The program consists of recreational/beginner, competitive and pre-professional levels.

Linda Dobbins dancers have progressed to college dance teams, been accepted to the Alabama School of Fine Arts, received col-lege performing arts scholarships, and pur-sued professional careers in Los Angeles, the Radio City Rockettes and Broadway. Many dancers have also been scouted by top agen-cies for modeling, acting and dancing. Linda Dobbins dancers can be seen in feature films,

Explore the arts

Linda Dobbins Dance Summer Day CampJune 1-26, July 6-31

Hip Hop CampJune 15-192416 Canterbury Roadlddance.com305-0281

TV, commercials and more. Dancers have won as much as $200,000 in scholarships. The staff has also won numerous regional, national and international awards for choreography and excellence in teaching.

This summer, girls and boys age 5-11 can sign up for a week session at $250 or a month session for $700. The hip hop camp for girls and boys ages 5-11 costs $185 for June 15-19.

For more information, visit lddance.com.

CommunityBarber’s car show coming to Mountain Brook Village in May

By MADOLINE MARKHAM

Historic and collector’s cars will descend upon Mountain Brook Village on a May evening.

The event will be part of the inaugural Barber His-torics weekend that was announced at a press confer-ence on Feb. 3.

On Friday, May 15, cars will drive Highway 78 from Barber Motorsports Park to the village and park in its circle from 5-7 p.m. The car owners will be on hand to talk with visitors, and the village will offer music, food and special events at its shops and restaurants.

“It’s a good opportunity to see cars outside their racing element,” said Jeff Ray, director of the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.

Organizers Barber Motorsports Park and the His-toric Motor Sports Association expect the week-end-long Historics event to draw visitors from around the country. It will feature museum-quality cars from the early days of motorsports through the 1980s, including prewar, Formula 1, Can Am and Trans Am cars, as well as Lotus cars from all over the world.

“This will be a festival in the truest sense of the word,” said Gene Hallman, CEO of ZOOM Motor-sports, Barber’s event promoter. “It’s a car lover’s dream.”

George Follmer, the grand marshal for the Historics event, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his United States Road Racing Championship in a Lotus 23B “giant killer.”

Mountain Brook Chamber Director Suzan Doidge and Mayor Terry Oden look at a Lotus car like the ones that will be featured at the Barber Historics event in May. Photo by Madoline Markham.

Tree Commission members pass out saplings at a previous Arbor Day event.

Tree commission to pass out saplings to ‘Tree City USA’ residents

If you go grocery shopping or visit the library on March 21, you will be reminded what holiday it is: Arbor Day.

The Mountain Brook Tree Commission will be giving away seedlings on Saturday, March 21, from 9 a.m.-noon in front of the Emmet O’Neal Library as well as at Western in Mountain Brook Village, Whole Foods in Cahaba Village and Piggly Wiggly in River Run.

This year’s selections include white dogwood, eastern redbud, southern red oak, southern wax myrtle, yaupon holly and black gum. Tree Com-mission members will be on hand to provide planting tips and information about the trees.

Also this year for the 21st year running, Mountain Brook has been named a Tree City USA, a designation awarded by the Arbor Day Foundation that the city shares with more than 3,400 communities across the nation.

Four things are required for a community to become a Tree City: the creation of a tree board or department, an ordinance giving the commission authority to create an annual forestry work plan, an annual forestry budget of approximately $2 per resident and an annual Arbor Day proclamation.

The Mountain Brook Tree Commission, a board of nine volunteers, works in conjunction with Don Cafaro, Mountain Brook’s senior arborist, to manage and care for the community’s trees.

VillageLivingOnline.com March 2015 • B7

Carol Melton creates a whimsical up-do at the annual Fancy Nancy Holiday Hairdo Hullabaloo held at the Emmet O’Neal Library.

Children’s librarian retiresThe Children’s Department at Emmet O’Neal

Library is missing a familiar face this month. Depart-ment head Carol Melton has retired after more than 23 years of library service in the Jefferson County Library Cooperative (JCLC).

Gloria Repolesk, the former elementary children’s librarian at Emmet O’Neal, succeeded Melton as the department head on Feb. 1.

Under Melton’s leadership, the number of chil-dren’s programs offered by the department more than doubled. She cultivated a strong working relationship with Mountain Brook’s Junior Women’s Committee of 100, whose financial contribution and member volunteer hours support the operations of the chil-dren’s department. The summer reading program also expanded under her leadership. In 2014, the Chil-dren’s Department hosted more than 100 programs that welcomed 6,600 patrons. Altogether 2,000 chil-dren read 1.5 million pages from May to July.

Melton, who earned her Masters of Library Sci-ence from the University of Alabama, spent more than 10 years working at the Hoover Library before transferring to Emmet O’Neal to head the Children’s Department.

During her tenure as a children’s librarian, Melton served as president of the JCLC Children’s Services Round Table, sat on the Alabama Library Associ-ation’s Alabama Authors Awards committee and planned the annual Children’s Services Mini-Con-ference for eight years.

Chandler Law, Oliver Little and Emily Sink were presented at the Twilight Ball.

Seniors presented at Twilight Ball

Senior girls from Mountain Brook were presented at the 2015 Twilight Ball on Jan. 24 at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center.

A seated dinner preceded the presentation of the girls and their escorts. The tables were decorated with tall glass vases filled with lighted branches, a variety of white flowers and candles on white table linens. White trees with lights and twilight blue lighting accented the ballroom.

Following the presentation, honorees and their guests danced to the music of the Atlanta Allstars.

Co-chairmen of this year’s event were Carrie Law, Margaret Little and Laura Sink.


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Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church is planning an event for women of all ages, featuring The Rev. Sarah Condon of St. Martin’s in Houston. Full Plate: Balancing Faith, Family, Food and Fashion is scheduled for March 7 from 9 a.m.-noon.

Condon, a working mother of two, explains that “having it all

isn’t really having it all…at all.” She uses scripture, multi-media illustrations and stories to remind women to rely on Jesus rather than their own efforts.

Also as a part of the event, Carey Thomasson, a caterer and chef, will demonstrate cooking techniques, and a local salon will

show attendees tricks with cosmetics. Tickets are $30. To register call Saint Luke’s at 871-3583 or

visit saint-lukes.com.

St. Luke’s to host Full Plate women’s event

Area residents participate in last year’s Junior League 5K for Kids at Regions Field.

Junior League 5K to help end childhood obesity

The Junior League of Birming-ham will hold its 5th Annual 5K for Kids to help end childhood obesity on Saturday, March 21.

The race is the culmination of an educational program for select elementary schools in the Birming-ham City Schools system designed to educate and motivate youth to achieve a healthy lifestyle. Students from these schools are also invited to participate, free of charge, on race day.

The 5K route goes through Pepper Place and other downtown landmarks and finishes with a run through Regions Field. Runners for the 5K will receive a techni-cal t-shirt, and participants in the Fun Run for children ages 12 and younger will get a cotton t-shirt and finisher’s medal. The event will also feature an expo and post race party.

Women’s author to speak on rising above the rush of endless demands

New York Times bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst is coming to Birming-ham for the first time this month.

TerKeurst will speak at a conference open to the community to be held at Canterbury United Methodist Church on Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21.

A mother of five and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, TerKeurst is the author of The Best Yes, Unglued and Made to Crave, as well as 16 other titles.

At Canterbury, she will speak about “Your Best Yes: What Happens When Women Say Yes to God,” based on her newest book. The book addresses women who are living under stress from schedules and helps them learn to escape the guilt of disappointing others, overcome the agony of hard choices and rise above the rush of

endless demands.Sessions will be held Friday 7-8:15

p.m. and Saturday 9:30-10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.-noon. Tickets for the event are $30 for adults or $20 for students.

For more information or tickets, visit canterburyumc.org/lysa.

Lysa TerKeurst

Advent’s Lenten lunch series returns

The Cathedral Church of the Advent is once again featuring preachers from around the world in a series of lunchtime interdenominational services during Lent, the season leading up to Easter. Each noonday service is immediately followed by the church’s homemade lunches.

The 25-minute service starts at 12:05 p.m. beginning Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18 and continues through Good Friday,

April 3.In 2014 the Lenten Lunches program

raised nearly $40,000 for local and global ministries. Last year more than 250 volunteers each week helped serve at least 6,000 lunches.

Advent is located at the corner of 20th Street and 6th Avenue North in down-town Birmingham. For more informa-tion, visit adventbirmingham.org.


Mountain Brook Village shops will launch their spring lines with a special shopping event on Thursday, March 19. The day before their windows will be covered in paper so that on Thursday they can debut their spring windows in unison.

The Spring Soiree event will run 5-7 p.m., with an after party starting at 7 p.m. at Dram.

“It’s meant to be a fun girls’ night out event celebrating spring,” said Ex Voto owner Eliz-abeth Adams.

Stores will feature different special events, including trunk shows, book signings,

demonstrations, live music and/or hors d’oeu-vres. Giveaways and drawings will be offered in stores as well, and many will offer purchases that benefit Mitchell’s Place, which provides services for persons affected by Autism Spec-trum Disorders and other developmental dis-abilities. Mason Music student musicians will perform in select locations.

Adams said the specifics of what each store will offer will be a surprise but that some sneak peeks will be share with the hashtag #itscomingyall.

Kick off spring with a shopping event

The 5K begins at 9 a.m. and Fun Run at 9:45 a.m. Registration begins at 7 a.m. the morning of the race, the awards presentation is at 10:30 a.m. and the expo runs 8-11 a.m. Packet pickup will be March 20 from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. at the Junior League Building in English Village.

A portion of each 5K entry fee helps sponsor a child to run in the Fun Run. Registration is available at active.com.

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Fifth-grade students at Brookwood Forest Elementary took a trip to Camp McDowell in late October for four days. Submission by Kathleen Woodry.

Brookwood Forest Elementary students go to camp

CES hosts CODE workshopBy COLLINS CLEGG

Recently, Crestline Elementary hosted the first Code.org workshop in Alabama.

Participants from all over the state attended this full day of training on computer coding for students. Scott McKerley, Ashley Crossno, Stacey Dorsten, Ruth Moore and Susan Dulin participated from Crestline. Dr. Jeff Gray was the facilitator for the day.

Launched in 2013, Code.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding

participation in computer science by making it available in more schools. The organization believes that computer science and computer programming should be part of the core cur-riculum in education, alongside other science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra.

For elementary students, modules intro-duced by Code.org feature videos, puzzles, group activities and game design created with input from Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. Teachers recently gathered to learn about instructing students in computer coding.


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Crestline’s Jump Rope Hula Hoop Team going 15 years strongBy COLLINS CLEGG

The Crestline Elementary Jump Rope Hula Hoop team has been per-forming for 15 years. The team is composed of students grades two to five.

This year, they will have

performed at the Exceptional Foundation, Mountain Brook High School, Birmingham-Southern Col-lege and Samford University. Their song this season is “What Does the Fox Say?” The team is coached by Randy Stephens and LuAnne Wall.

Jennifer Jinnette and her kindergarten class dressed as literary characters along with MBE librarians Margaret Hudson and Libby Kiyak.

MBE celebrates reading

By HILARY ROSS

What is better than curling up with a good book on cold, wintry days? Recently, Mountain Brook Elementary students did just that during a two-day celebration dedicated to fostering the love for reading.

On one day, students and many teachers dressed as their favor-ite literary characters. The second day children were allowed to wear their pajamas to school (as long as they met dress code!).

Other reading events at the school include its annual Scholas-tic Book Fair and the annual Writers’ Festival hosted by MBE, Cherokee Bend and Brookwood Forest in February.


Kennedy Stewart, Lilly LeJeune, Mary Carolyn Sink, Maggie Doyle, Katelyn Griffi n, Belle Drummond, Lily Davis, Kate Howell, Ellie Hamilton, Jeff Shultz, Daniel Carmichael and Fletcher Nunnelley.

An assembly was held during the Circle of Friends week at BWF.

Celebrating friends at BWF

By KATHLEEN WOODRY

Circle of Friends week was recently celebrated at Brookwood Forest Elementary. Each day during morn-ing broadcast, students recited the Circle of Friends pledge: “I pledge to practice and teach understanding, patience, tolerance and inclusion of other students who may have visible or invisible challenges.”

Kerry Stein, the father of third-grader Katherine Stein, talked with preschool and K-2 students about being visually impaired whiled owning a business. He read a Braille book and passed out cards that had the Braille alphabet on them. Additionally, athletes from the Lakeshore Foundation shared at an assembly for grades 3-6.

Morning broadcasts that week featured “The Most

Inspiring Act of Kindness,” “The Two AJ’s,” “Ben Underwood living without his sight” and “ABC inter-view with Bob Lujano - No arms, no legs, no excuses!”

Other celebration opportunities included simula-tion stations conducted by Ashley Eldridge, special book selections in the library and classroom discus-sions of the Circle of Friends pledge. Students also discussed ideas from Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell, which dis-cusses how “Different means nobody’s the same. All bodies are different and so are all brains. Different is what makes this world so great. Different is never something to hate.” Posters decorated the halls of the school, and banners were hung at both carpools in celebration of the week.

MBE students compete at JUNA

BY HILARY ROSS

Sixth-grade students from Mountain Brook Elementary recently participated in the Junior United Nations Assem-bly (JUNA) for Alabama students in grades six, seven and eight. During the two-day event, teams took part in a parade of nations, opening assembly, committee meetings and General Assembly meet-ings in which resolutions were presented, discussed and voted upon.

MBE teams represented Nigeria and Cameroon and wore native dress from each. Cameroon’s resolution to stop the import and export of coun-terfeit drugs in Cameroon and

other countries around the world passed in Committee and General Assembly. The Repub-lic of Nigeria’s resolution to reduce the number of child laborers worldwide passed in Committee.

The Cameroon team won the Outstanding Nation award, and Kate Howell was selected Best Female Delegate. The Nige-rian team won Best Prepared Nation. Kennedy Stewart and Lilly LeJeune were nominated for the Erin McPherson Lead-ership Award.

Mandi Hoxter oversees JUNA and the Program for Academically Gifted Elemen-tary (PAGE) \students at MBE.


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Spartanettes win state dance championship

The Mountain Brook Junior High School Spartanettes recently competed at the Univer-sal Dance Association’s Alabama Dance Cham-pionship held on Jan. 10 at Spain Park High School.

The girls competed in the High Kick Divi-sion, where they were defending their title for the fourth year in a row. They took home the first place trophy with the highest score in the division.

They also competed for the first time in the Pom Division and won the fifth place trophy with a score only separated by 1.3 points from the first place spot. The team worked since

summer to perfect their routines.Team members include Adele Bloodworth,

Anna Catherine Brown, Fredda Cardwell, Ginny Carney, Caroline Chamoun, Lucie Christian, Reagan Clark, Ella Cobbs, Mary Inzer Hagan, Emilyn Hamn, Elizabeth Harris, Kate Hinson, Ryann Holley, Lindsay Kahn, Olivia Keating, Greer Kelly, Elizabeth Kin-saul, Caroline Knight, Caroline Kohn, Laura Miles, Ferris Schwefler, Kate Seibels, Abigail Shepherd, Hayden Sledge, Molly Simpson, Lizzy Walker and Sarah Yates.

Debbie Stump and Lisa Lewis are the Spar-tanette sponsors.

The Spartanettes at the Alabama Dance Championship. Photo courtesy of Alicia Kahn.

CBS Geography Bee winners Nicole Hatton and Pearson Bedingfield.

CBS holds geography bee

By CATHERINE GASQUE

Cherokee Bend held its annual Geography Bee on Jan 13. Fifth-grader Nicole Hatton placed first, while Pearson Bedingfield, a sixth-grader, placed second.

Laurel Hand and Nicholas Miller.

Top spellers at CrestlineBy COLLINS CLEGG

Two Crestline Elemen-tary School sixth-graders were recently named the top spellers in the school after competing against more than 30 CES students.

Laurel Hand won the Crestline Elementary School spelling bee, and Nicholas Miller was the runner-up. Laurel went on to compete in the Moun-tain Brook district Spelling Bee at the Mountain Brook Board of Education, where she came in third place.


Sports

Seventh-grade teams are Metro champs

The Mountain Brook Junior High seventh-grade boys basket-ball team completed an undefeated season with a 41-36 victory over Pizitz in the championship game of the Metro South Tournament. The team finished 16-0 in the Metro and 24-0 overall including first-place

finishes in the Simmons Tipoff Tour-nament and the War on the Wood Tournament.

Peyton Haley and Carter Sobera were named to the All-Tournament team, and Paul Stramaglia was selected as the tournament Most Valuable Player. Representing MBJH

on the All-Metro South team for the season were Paul Stramaglia and Peyton Haley.

Other team members include Holt Bashinsky, Alex Belt, Andrew Flem-ming, Clark Griffin, Sam Higgins, Beau Hubbard, Richman Priestley, Edward Reed and Kade Worthen. The

team is coached by Bruce Henricks.The seventh-grade girls basketball

team won the Metro Tournament after a final victory over Hewitt Trussville 41-13. Liz Vandevelde and Ellie Day-huff were named to the All-Tourna-ment team, and Ann Vandevelde was named the tournament MVP.

Charlotte Gillum and Ann Van-develde were also named to the All- Metro Team for the entire season. The team’s overall record was 19-0. It is coached by Jane Mosakowski.

Front row: Courtney Clark, Charlotte Gillum, Cameron Hudson, Lindsay Davis (Manager), Hannon Tatarek, Ellie Dayhuff. Back row: Cate Jones, Liz Vandevelde, Kate Amberson, Lauren Snipes, Lillian Troiano, Ann Vandevelde, Katherine Kimberlin, Coach Jane Mosakowski.

Front row: Clark Griffin, Paul Stramaglia, Sam Higgins, Edward Reed, Peyton Haley, Alex Belt. Back row: Coach Bruce Henricks, Holt Bashinsky, Richman Priestley, Andrew Flemming, Carter Sobera, Kade Worthen, Beau Hubbard, Coach Zach Skipper.


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Mac Campbell, Zachary Carroll, Keller Briley, Carter Dukes and Patrick Doud.

Varsity lacrosse names season captains

The Mountain Brook varsity lacrosse team has selected Mac Campbell, Zachary Carroll, Keller Briley, Carter Dukes and Patrick Doud as captains for the 2015 season.

“I know these young men are honored to serve as captains for this year’s team,” said head coach Brian Doud. “We look forward to a successful season under their leadership.”

Mac Campbell, the son of Lela and Brian Campbell, is a junior attackman and is return-ing for his third year on the team. Zachary Carroll, the son of Perryn and Mike Carroll, is a sophomore midfielder and also returning for his third year on the varsity. Keller Briley, the son of Heather White and Ross Briley, is a senior midfielder and returns for his second

season on the varsity. Carter Dukes, the son of Susan and Carter Dukes, is a senior mid-fielder and returns for his fourth year on the varsity. Patrick Doud, the son of Leigh and Brian Doud, is a junior defenseman and returns for his second season on the varsity.

Campbell, Carroll and Doud are former Brine National All-Americans, and Carroll, Dukes and Doud were in the All-State team in 2014.

Mountain Brook opened its season against John Carroll on Feb. 12.

Athletes sign to play collegiate soccerBy MADOLINE MARKHAM

Mountain Brook High School’s cage club was filled with gold and black, with some orange and blue sprin-kled in, for National Signing Day on Feb. 4. Four senior soccer players signed letters of intent at the event.

Maggie Clemmons will play for Vanderbilt, Leigh Haynes for Wake Forest, Sarah Grace Lindsey for Wofford College and Ansley Joy Peacock for Auburn University.

At the signing event, coach Scott Flowers recog-nized how each of the players has excelled not only athletically but also academically. Ansley Joy and Sarah Grace helped lead the high school team to the 2013 state championship team in 2013, and all four girls were a part of last year’s state runner-up team.

Sarah Grace LindseyWofford College

Maggie ClemmonsVanderbilt

Leigh HaynesWake Forest

Ansley Joy PeacockAuburn University


Mountain Brook fares well at state meetBy WILL DAVIS

Mountain Brook concluded the indoor track and field season on Feb. 7 at the state championships at Birmingham CrossPlex.

Overall, it was a good day for the Spartans as both the girls and boys ranked highly in many of the events and many runners on both teams set personal records en route to high finishes.

The girls team finished second to Class 7A first-place Hoover. The Lady Bucs scored 123.50 points to the Lady Spartans 68.

The boys finished fifth with 33 points, just two points behind James Clemens. Auburn won the boys title, followed by Hoover and Hewitt-Trussville.

In the girls 1600-meter run, the Spartans grabbed two top 10 fin-ishes with sophomore Anna Grace Morgan finishing fourth and junior Frances Patrick finishing sixth. Morgan and Patrick also both fin-ished in the top five in the 3200-meter run, with Patrick finishing second and Morgan finishing fifth.

The girls had two top 10 in the 800-meter run, with senior Sanders Reed finishing second and junior Helen Camp finishing seventh.

“This weekend was amazing,” Morgan said. “Everyone gave it all they had and almost everyone hit their personal records.”

Junior Drew Williams finished second in the boys 1600-meter run, while senior Marshall Smith missed a top 10 finish by 19 tenths

of a second, finishing 11th. Smith finished third at the 3200-meter run, while fellow senior Michael Clark finished 17th.

“I thought it was a good season overall,” Smith said. “We had a lot of personal records across the board. A lot of guys really stepped up when they needed to.”

According to Smith, the Spartans’ Griffin Riley was tripped at the beginning of the 800-meter run, which took him out of the race. Riley hit a time of 1:58 for the 800-meter run earlier this season.

Paul Barlow from Auburn, the winner of the 800, won with a time of 1:57.93. Williams fin-ished fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:00.51.

The boys team finished third in the 4x800-meter relay, barely missing a sec-ond-place finish by one tenth of a second, while the girls team finished second in the 4x400-meter relay and fourth in the 4x800-meter relay.

For the girls program, the future bodes well for a young team that had to overcome a lot of personnel losses from last year’s team.

Sophomore Anna Grace Morgan chases a McGill-Toolen runner and junior Frances Patrick follows close behind at the state championship meet. Photo courtesy of Anna Grace Morgan.

The Mountain Brook Jets won the fourth-grade Jingle Bell Jam by defeating Vestavia Swish. Back row: Heath Griffin, Jackson Beaty, Trent Wright, Carter Brooks and Thomas Sargent. Front row: Coach Jack Kubiszyn, coach Scott Kubiszyn, John Colvin, Ford Moffat, Daniel Kubiszyn, Walker Ray and coach John David Kubiszyn. Not pictured: Carter Kelley. Photo courtesy of Monica Sargent.

Jets win Jingle Bell Jam

Wrestlers place in tourney

By ELIZABETH FARRAR

The Mountain Brook High School wrestling team finished in third place in a Phenix City tournament in Janu-ary. Drew Reed and Austin Gandler

finished first, McKee Brown finished second, Josh Anders and Thomas Byrne finished third, and Cole Holmes finished fourth in their respective weight classes.

MBHS wrestling team.


Life Actually By Kari Kampakis

Helping your kids build a thick skin

Faith

Some of the best advice I ever received came after my first big job promotion.

I was 23 and the newly tapped executive speech writer for a large company. My pri-mary responsibility was to prepare notes for the CEO’s speaking engagements.

Because he was a terrific speaker, he often spoke off-the-cuff. What this meant for me was that I might spend three weeks working diligently on a speech only to have him use a sentence or two.

As my boss prepared me for what would come, he mentioned this: “You need a thick skin if you don’t have one already because he might use all of your speech or none of it, and you can’t take it personally.”

He was talking about the job, of course, but what I’ve realized in the years since is how relevant this advice is to life. You see, I’m sensitive by nature, and while I’ve come to appreciate this about myself, I’ve also come to see how important it is to have a thick skin when living in a broken, unpre-dictable world.

When you’re sensitive, life affects you deeply. While your highs can be really high, your lows can be really low. Since you empa-thize well, you tend to be a good friend. You can recognize when someone’s hurting and

know when to offer encouragement. In terms of handling life’s hard or unex-

pected knocks, however, being sensitive can be a liability. It can amplify your disappoint-ments and make rejection more painful. You might want to retreat (or worse yet, quit) over minor setbacks. Even constructive crit-icism can be hard to take. Instead of seeing a growth opportunity, you might take it as a personal attack. You might turn small slights into big deals because you’re so emotionally invested.

Truth be told, our world isn’t made for sensitive people. It’s made for survivors. It’s made for people who can adapt, roll with the punches and handle challenges without falling to pieces. The tricky part is learning to build a thick skin while keeping a tender heart. That’s my hope for me and my family, that we can be resilient on the outside yet soft inside, able to handle any hard realities without letting them seep under our skin to harden us.

Among my daughters, I have one who’s especially sensitive like me. And one thing we work on is letting things roll off her shoulders. There was a time when she’d get upset over someone calling her Barbie too pink. She’d cry and run to her room if her

sister critiqued her cartwheel. As I consoled her in her meltdowns, I’d

share stories about how easily I got my feel-ings hurt while growing up. I’d reassure her that it’s good to be sensitive because it means she has extra love and compassion to share, but building a thick skin would keep things from going straight to her heart. Without some protection, the world might crush her.

“When you get your feelings hurt, see if you can let it roll off your shoulders,” I’d say, illustrating by placing my hands on her shoulders and sliding them down her arms. “Don’t let the words stick. Let them roll off your shoulders.”

We’d repeat this several times with my hands over hers. By the fourth or fifth try, her demeanor would change. She’d quit crying, sit up straight and say with confidence as she did the hand motions alone, “I’m letting it roll off my shoulders, I’m letting it roll off my shoulders!”

Her voice grew loud and bold as the words came out. She smiled and looked relieved instead of sad. These little sessions helped toughened her up a bit, and while I know there will be bigger breakdowns ahead, at least we have groundwork in place. She’s starting to understand how to cope with frustration.

We can’t always control how people treat us. We can’t predict what cards we’ll be dealt or make our boss use the speech that we labored over for weeks. But we can con-trol our response. We can keep our moods independent of others so that no matter what they say, do, or decide, we are okay.

Certainly, we all should be more kind and gentle. At the same time, we need a thick skin to handle potentially hurtful situations. Being tender yet tough isn’t easy, but it’s import-ant to find the right balance. By keeping our heart in the right place and right condition, we ensure that regardless of what the world gives us, we continue to give our best: our best love, our best performance and our best foot forward.

Kari Kubiszyn Kampakis is a Mountain Brook mom of four girls, columnist, and blogger for The Huffington Post. Her first book, 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know, is now available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Join her Facebook commu-nity at “Kari Kampakis, Writer,” visit her blog at karikampakis.com or contact her at [email protected].


AdultsAll month: 50x50x15 Contest. Take the EOL 50th anniversary challenge by reading 50 books by Sept. 15.

Wednesdays: Brown Bag Lunch Series. Noon. Bring sack lunch. Beverages and dessert provided.

March 1, 5, 8, 12: Holocaust Film Series. 6:30 p.m. Cosponsored by the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center. Call 445-1121.

March 9: Great Books Book Group. 6:30 p.m. Discussing Not a Good Girl by Perri Klass.

March 10: The Bookies Book Group. 10 a.m.

March 17: Documentaries After Dark. 6:30 p.m. View a film about the hanging gardens of Babylon.

March 20: Standing Room Only Presents: Terrarium Workshop with Jonathan Woolley/Little Forest. 7 p.m. Age 21 and up. Registration required. $5. Call 445-1121.

March 31: Genre Reading Group. 6:30 p.m. Discussing novels about art and artists.

TeensMarch 4: TAB. 5-6 p.m. The monthly meeting of the Teen Advisory Board.

March 7: Game On Tournament. 1-3 p.m.

ChildrenMondays: *Toddler Tales Story Time. 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.

Tuesdays: Together Time Story Time. 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.

Tuesdays: Evenings at EOL. 6 p.m.

Wednesdays: *Mother Goose Story Time. 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.

Thursdays: *Patty Cake Story Time. 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.

Thursdays: SNaP. 3:30 p.m.

Saturdays: Family Story Time with Mr. Mac. 10:30 a.m.

March 10: Family Night: Cliff Patton, Magician. 5:30 p.m.

March 19: *Bookmania: A Snicker of Magic. 6 p.m.

March 25: After-School Special: Birmingham Children Theatre’s Queen of Hearts. 3:30 p.m.

*Space is limited. Please call 879-0497 or visit eolib.org.

CalendarMountain Brook Events

March 2, 3, 6: Girl Scout Cookie Sale. 4-7 p.m. Brookwood Village. Visit girlscouts.org.

March 5: Spencer Lecture. 6:30 p.m. Birmingham Botanical Gardens Linn-Henly Lecture Hall. Botanist Dan Hinkley will speak. Visit bbgardens.org.

March 7: Village 2 Village 10K and 8-Mile Trail Run. 7:30 a.m. 10K, 9:30 a.m. 10K starts on Lane Park Road at Park Lane Court South, trail run starts on Canterbury Road, after party will be on Canterbury Road, all in Mountain Brook Village. Visit welcometomountainbrook.com.

March 7: Magic Moments Event. 12-3 p.m. Calypso, Lily Pulitzer and Kendra Scott at The Summit. Raffle, refreshments and shopping, with all proceeds benefit Magic Moments. Event held by the MBJH Magic Moments Club.

March 7: Full Plate: Balancing Faith, Family, Food and Fashion. 9 a.m.-noon. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. The Rev. Sarah Condon of St. Martin’s in Houston will speak. $30. Visit saint-lukes.com.

March 8: Purim Carnival. 12:30 p.m. Levite Jewish Community Center. Games, booths and inflatables available. Open to the entire community. Adults $5, kids $3. Visit bhamjcc.org.

March 14: St. Patrick’s Day Event. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mountain Brook Village. Festivities in participating stores and drinks on Dram’s patio.

March 15: Magic’s LJCC Indoor Triathlon. 8 a.m. Levite Jewish Community Center. $30. Visit bhamjcc.org.

March 19: Spring Soiree. 5-7 p.m. Mountain Brook Village. Shops will launch their spring lines at this shopping event. Visit welcometomountainbrook.com.

March 20-21: Lysa TerKeurst: Your Best Yes: What Happens When Women Say Yes to God. Friday 7-8:15 p.m. Saturday 9:30-10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.-noon. Canterbury United Methodist Church. Adults $30, students $20. Visit canterburyumc.org.

March 21: Steeple to Steeple Run. 8 a.m. Trinity United Methodist Church. Race will end at Canterbury United Methodist Church. $35. Visit steeple2steeple.com.

March 21: Arbor Day Seedling Giveaway. 9 a.m.-noon. Emmet O’Neal Library, Western in Mountain Brook Village, Whole Foods in Cahaba Village, Piggly Wiggly in River Run. Visit mtnbrook.org.

March 30-April 3: Spring Break Camp. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. A full day of activities such as sports, crafts, games, swimming and more. Non-members $35, members $25. Visit bhamjcc.org.

Emmet O’Neal Library Events

50 Oak St.879-0459, eolib.org


CalendarArea Events

March 1-April 2: Cathedral Church of the Advent Lenten Lunches. Full service line 12:05-1 p.m. Express line 12:30-1 p.m. 2017 Sixth Ave. N., Downtown Birmingham. Lunches will be served weekdays from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday. Visit adventbirmingham.org.

March 2-April 3: Cathedral Church of the Advent Lenten Preaching Series. 12:05 p.m. Cathedral Church of the Advent. Series will feature preachers from all over the world. Visit adventbirmingham.org.

March 2- 4: Roller Derby Recruitment Workshop with the Tragic City Rollers. Monday 7-10 p.m., Wednesday 8-10 p.m. Free. Skates available for rental for $3. Visit tragiccityrollers.com.

March 3: Samford University Orchestra. 7:30-8:30 p.m. Brock Recital Hall, Samford University. Free. Visit samford.edu.

March 3: Shpongletron 3.1. 8 p.m. Iron City. Music performed by Simon Posford and Raja Ram. $20 in advance, $24 on the day of the show. All ages. Call 202-5483.

March 5: Birmingham Art Crawl. 5-9 p.m. Birmingham Historic Loft District. Monthly showcase of local artists. Free. Visit birminghamartcrawl.com.

March 9-March 14: Theatre UAB’s 12th Annual Festival of 10-Minute Plays. Monday-Friday 7:30-9:45 p.m., Saturday 2-4:15

p.m. Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center. Visit alysstephens.org.

March 10: University of Alabama Baseball vs. Alabama A&M. 2 p.m. Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. $8 adults, $5 ages 18 and under. Visit secticketoffice.com.

March 10: The Lone Bellow with Odessa. 8 p.m. Workplay. $16 in advance, $18

day of show. Visit workplay.com.

March 13, 15: La Bohème. Friday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 2:30 p.m. Wright Center, Samford University. Presented by Opera Birmingham. Visit operabirmingham.org or call 322-6737.

March 14: Renew Our Rivers-Cahaba Cleanup 2015. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Amphitheatre Park, 816 County Road 52. Call 874-5623.

March 14: Oh, Happy Day Spring Market. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wynfrey Hotel. Shop for one-of-a-kind Easter, Mother’s Day, bridal shower and graduation gifts. Call 588-8962 ext. 705.

March 14: Guild Gala. 6 p.m. The Club. Black tie event with a cocktail reception, formal seated dinner, live auction emceed by JOX Roundtable and provided by 4 Barrel Funk. Visit theserviceguild.org.

March 14: Arc of Jefferson County Shamrock Shindig. 6 p.m. Avondale Brewery. Food by Rusty’s BBQ, music by DJ Mark Goldstein. All proceeds benefit the Arc of Jefferson County. $30 per person, $50 per couple. Visit arcofjeff.org.

March 15: Santana. 8 p.m.-midnight. Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. $58-$148.50 plus fees and service charges. Call 800-745-3000.

March 20-21: Lysa TerKeurst: Your Best Yes: What Happens When Women Say Yes to God. Friday 7-8:15 p.m., Saturday 9:30-10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.-noon. Canterbury United Methodist Church. Adults $30, students $20. Visit canterburyumc.org.

March 21: 5K for Kids. 9 a.m. Regions Field. Take small steps to end childhood obesity. $30. Visit jlbonline.com/5kforkids.

March 31: Sarah McLachlan. 8-11 p.m. Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. $45-$85. Call 800-745-3000.

Fontaine Pope, The Rev. Canon Deborah R. Leighton, Lynn Cassady, The Very Reverend Andrew C. Pearson Jr. and Marcus Cassimus prepare for this year’s Lenten lunch events at Cathedral Church of the Advent.


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Village Living March 2015