This Week

Oct. 18

• Books & Bites at Hudson Library: Author Olivia deBelle Byrd: Come to Hudson Library on Thursday October 18 at 12:30 pm for light lunch and a delightful book talk with Southern belle author Olivia deBelle Byrd. Byrd will entertain us with a talk about her two releases, Miss Hildreth Wore Brown: Anecdotes of a Southern Belle and Save My Place: A Novel. Olivia deBelle Byrd knows what it is like to grow up amid Southern traditions, and her novel, Save My Place, is a coming-of-age story that earned Gold Medals for Florida Fiction and Cover Design from the Florida Publishers Association. Olivia’s first book of humorous anecdotes, Miss Hildreth Wore Brown—Anecdotes of a Southern Belle, was awarded two Silver Medals from the Florida Publishers Association. Olivia has delighted audiences across the South with her humorous vignettes and tales of classic Southern personalities you are sure to appreciate. The daughter of one of the first Pepsi bottlers in the South, Olivia is a longtime resident of Panama City, Florida, where she lives with her husband Tommy, and today, in addition to writing, she enjoys visiting family (including three grandchildren) in Austin, Texas. Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. Lunch bites will be provided by the Hudson Library Board of Trustees. Books will be available for purchase, and Ms. Byrd will do book signings. For more information or to request an accommodation, please call the library at 828-526-3031. Hudson Library, 554 Main Street in Highlands, is open 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday.
• Join Patti Wheeler, MD, as she presents a program entitled Breast Cancer Awareness at Highlands-Cashiers Hospital on Thursday, October 18, at 5:30 p.m. in the Jane Woodruff Clinic, Suite 103. This free event is part of Highlands-Cashiers Hospital’s Evening with the Docs series. Reserve your space today. Light refreshments will be provided. The event is limited to 50 attendees. RSVP to Brittany Dryman at 828-526-1345.
• CHHS: Grand Opening for CHHS Feline Adoption & Animal Care Center at 11 a.m. at the Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society announces the Grand Opening for North Carolina’s most modern animal shelter and adoption center designed and built exclusively for cats and kittens. Come join this historic day for shelter cats at the newest expansion on the 10-acre campus of the Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society located at 200 Gable Drive in Sapphire, 1 ½ miles east of the Cashiers Ingles in between Cedar Creek Club and Lonesome Valley on Highway 64. For more information call 828-743-5750.

Oct. 19

• 7th Annual Studio Barn Sales10 a.m. to 5 p.m. held in the historic Dave Drake Studio Barn, formerly known as the Crane’s riding stable. Enjoy wonderful and beautiful handmade pottery with an added bonus of demonstrations including wheel throwing, sculpture, hand building, carving, and sqraffito. Contact Frank Vickery at fvickery@thebascom.org for more information. The event Oct. 19-21 and is free to attend.

Oct. 20

The Highlands Performing Arts Center will screen Live via Satellite the MET Opera’s production of Samson et Dalila on Saturday, October 20.

• The Highlands Performing Arts Center will screen Live via Satellite the MET Opera’s production of Samson et Dalila at 12:55 p.m. on Saturday, October 20. Saint-Saëns’s biblical epic stars mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča and tenor Roberto Alagna in the title roles; Live in HD audiences last saw the pair together in the acclaimed 2010 transmission of Bizet’s Carmen. The Tony Award–winning director of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder, makes his debut directing the first new Met production of the opera in 20 years. Sir Mark Elder conducts.  There will be a pre-opera discussion beginning at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are available online: highlandspac.org, at the door or by calling 828-526-9047. Highlands Performing Arts Center, 507 Chestnut Street, Highlands N.C.
• The Art League of Highlands-Cashiers Fall Art Show: Is on Oct. 20-21 at the Highlands Civic Center, 600 N. 4^th Street, Highlands, N.C.

Mommy/Daddy and me Halloween fun from 3-4:30 p.m. at Easely An Artist in Highlands.

• Pumpkin Painting: Mommy/Daddy and me Halloween fun from 3-4:30 p.m. at Easely An Artist in Highlands, help each other create spooktacular paintings just in time for Halloween! The cost of the class is $35 for both painters. Please remember to register for this class as seating is limited. For more information call 828-526-2933.