The 32nd annual Black Heritage festival is to be 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Anniston Museum of Natural History. Free admission. Call 256-237-6766, ext. 108, if you would like to be a vendor at the event.
Actress, Tonea Stewart, known for her role as Aunt Etta on In the Heat of the Night is to be the guest speaker at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Black History month convocation at Talladega College at DeForest Chapel. Stewart is the dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Alabama State University. The event is free and open to the public. Call 256-761-6212 for more information.
The AlaBenton Genealogical Society will meet at 1 p.m. today at the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County in the Ayers Room. Marty Oliff, a professor at Troy University, is to present a program on how the Alabama home front responded to mobilization in World War I and how that response changed the state and its people’s institutions.
Anniston author/speaker Alice G. Duckett is to present a program “Discovering Your Scottish Heritage” 2:30 p.m. Feb. 12 to the Guntersville Historical Society at the Guntersville Public Library. The public is welcome. Call Dr. Pete Sparks at 256-582-8656 for more information.
Anniston author/speaker Alice G. Duckett is to present a program “Return to Your Roots-Finding Family History” 3 p.m. Thursday to the Thursday Study Club at the home of Ellen Snow, 309 O’Hara Drive in Albertville. Call 256-558-6994 for more information.
The fifth annual Calhoun County Piggy Bank Pageant is to be at 6 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Anniston City Meeting Center. The deadline is Feb. 21 to submit completed registration forms to the Calhoun County Extension Office, 1701 Noble St., Suite 108. The forms are also available at www.aces.edu/calhoun. Call 256-237-1621 for more information. The event is designed to encourage area children to begin saving money.
A Valentine style health fair/fundraiser is to be 1-4 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Munford Senior Center, 115 Lions Road, Munford (in the old high school gym). The event is hosted by the Alabama Institute for Deaf & Blind Senior Services and the Munford Senior Center. Call 256-761-3740 or email Royal.Tabitha@aidb.state.al.us for more information.
The EAC AAA is to hold a “Senior Center Spelling Bee,” sponsored by Southern Care, at 10 a.m. March 6 at the Anniston Senior Center at McClellan. Registration deadline for the event is to be Feb. 24. The event is for men and women age 60 and up. Each senior center will be allowed to send two participants. If you are interested in the event, speak with your senior center manager about signing up. There is no cost to enter. Drinks and snacks are to be provided. Due to limited space, spectators may not be allowed in the spelling room this year.
Calhoun and Cleburne County Head Start/Early Head Start centers are accepting applications. Head Start Centers in Calhoun County are Norwood, Piedmont, Ayers, Constantine and Hobson City. Centers in Cleburne County are Heflin and Fruithurst. Children must be 3 years old by Sept. 1. Call Gayle McClellan at 256-237-8628 for more information.
Free tax help is available at 1505 Wilmer Ave., Suite B (next door to United Way). The service is offered by the Calhoun County Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Services are to include free tax preparation and electronic filing. The site is open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Call RSVP at 256-435-5091 for information about sites in Jacksonville, Oxford and Weaver.
A Valentine senior adult day, sponsored by the Oxford Parks and Recreation Department, is to be (registration) 8 a.m. Feb. 13 at the Oxford Civic Center. The event is free to all senior citizens. A free sack lunch is to be available for everyone who attends. There will be a king and queen crowned. The Rip Reagan and Gadsden State Band are to provide entertainment. Door prizes are to be featured. You do not have to pre-register. Call 256-831-2660 for more information.
Upcoming events in January at the Hobson City Library, 610 Martin Luther King Drive, include:
• Monday, Wednesday and Friday, noon-5 p.m., a communitywide reading event. Pick up your free copy of “Daily Motivations for African-American Success.”
• Mondays, noon-1 p.m., “Lunch & Learn,” community discussion focused on “Daily Motivations for Africa-American Success,” bring your own lunch.
• Fridays, 11:30 a.m., “Pre-school story time” featuring stories, crafts and songs.
Call 256-831-7069 for more information on planned events.
Upcoming events at the Public Library of Anniston-Calhoun County include:
• Thursday, 4:30 p.m., movie at the library, call 256-237-8501, ext. 2, for title
• Thursday, 7 p.m., presentation by Dr. Jerry D. Kiser on C.S. Lewis: His life, work, theology and theory of counseling
• Feb. 15, 2 p.m., book signing with Dr. Wayne Flynt, author of, Keeping the Faith: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives
• Feb. 21, noon, book signing with Darryl Patton, author of, America’s Goat Man, bring a bag lunch, drinks provided
• Feb. 28, noon, book signing with Aileen Henderson, author of, Eugene Allen Smith’s Alabama, bring a bag lunch, drinks provided.
