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SATURDAY MAY 16 | SUNDAY MAY 17 2020
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The garden of good and very good. Meet Chalet Nursery's Lawson Thalmann. P10
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CELEBRATE COMMUNITY CELEBRATE HIGHWOOD SWITCHES GEARS TO FOCUS ON COMMUNITY INITIATIVES IN 2020. BY KEMMIE RYAN THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Typically, a sure sign of summer is the opening of Celebrate Highwood’s Wednesday Evening Market followed by the group’s abundant family-friendly festival and event season. However, like many events this year, the nonprofit had a difficult decision to make and has chosen to cancel its 2020 line-up in light of Governor Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” plan. “With the uncertainty and constant changes due to COVID-19, we decided full cancellation of the 2020 season was the right thing to do,” says Ken Robertson, Co-President of Celebrate Highwood. “We are going to take all the time, effort, and energy it takes to plan our wonderful events; and put that into helping boost our community morale and keep our local economies going.” The first of Celebrate Highwood’s new programs was launched on April 30, raising more than $4,000 in just two days to supply enough grocery bags full of fresh food, produce, and staples for more than 200 local
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VIRTUAL ZUMBA
LIVE! FROM MUSIC CITY SHERIDAN ROAD CHARITABLE FOUNDATION FUNDRAISER— SONGWRITERS IN THE ROUND—WILL GO VIRTUAL ON MAY 21. BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
The show must go on. That's the message from Sheridan Road Charitable Foundation (SRCF) and three gifted and award-winning songwriters who will perform from a Nashville studio to a virtual audience on the evening of May 21. Since its founding in 2013, the Foundation has organized Songwriters in the Round, intimate concerts featuring some of Nashville's most decorated songwriters, to raise money for the Foundation's nonprofit partners. The 11th edition, and the first performed virtually due to Covid-19, will feature Kelley Lovelace, Chris DeStefano, and Ashley Gorley, who collectively have written more than 60 number one singles for country stars such as Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, and Thomas Rhett. "The idea for the Songwriters in the Round benefit came out of a conversation I had with Pete Fisher, a good friend of mine and the former CEO of the Academy of Country Music," says Daniel Bryant, founder of the SRCF. Concerts in the past have been held in Denver, Nashville, and at Joe's on Weed Street, in Chicago. "It's a very unique experience that isn't being done anywhere else," adds Bryant. "We're bringing in the storytelling songwriters for intimate concerts, and it's worked out really well."
Betsy Sorensen and Daniel Bryant at the Nashville Songwriters in the Round event from last November at the Standard at the Smith House. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF SRCF To date, the Songwriters in the Round concerts—the first was held in 2013—have raised more than $1 million for nonprofit organizations which are aligned with SRCF's mission. Over the years, 14 different organizations have received funding as a result of fundraising from the concerts. "If you look at the three areas of focus for
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CHEEP DATE Bird watching is in season
the Foundation, they are, first, making impactful investments into urban educational initiatives that can improve outcomes for kids," Bryant says. "Number two is helping underresourced communities through after-school and mentorship programs, and the third is Continued on PG 7