Week of June 2-8, 2008:


Easter Seals Tribute Dinner
June 4. Crescent Room at Milestones, 621 S. Cullen Ave. This annual event honors community members who’ve made extraordinary differences in the lives of people with disabilities served by the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center. 6 p.m. $40. (812) 437-2607.

Art in the City
June 5. 318 Main St. Opening day. Artists who belong to the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana display some of their best work in the new Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery at Innovation Pointe. The exhibition, sponsored by Crescent-Cresline-Wabash Plastics, continues until July 7. On June 6, the Arts Council will host a public reception for the artists, from 5-7 p.m. Free. (812) 422-2111.

Creatures of the Night Adventure Trek
June 7. John James Audubon State Park, 3100 U.S. Hwy 41 N, Henderson, Ky. In celebration of National Trails Day, venture out and discover the mysticism of nighttime creatures. Don’t forget your flashlight. 7-9 p.m. Free. (270) 826-2247.

3rd Annual Dragons on the Ohio and International Family Festival
June 7. Evansville Riverfront Pagoda. A day like no other on the river – the dragon boat regatta. Based on a Chinese ceremonial event, canoe-like boats sponsored by local teams take float in support of Funk in the City, an organization that raises money for the Haynie’s Corner Arts District. Free. (812) 575-9138.

18th Annual W.C. Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival
June 7-14. Central Park and various locations throughout Henderson, Ky. This annual tribute to the man known as “father of the blues” just keeps getting bigger and better with each passing year. In celebration of W.C. Handy’s life and legacy, seven nights of great food, music, and dance take over the Henderson riverfront. Grab your lawn chair and spend an afternoon in the shade with some of the best blues there is floating above your head. Free. (800) 648-3128 or www.handyblues.org.

Georgette Norman, Troy University Rosa Parks Museum
June 8. Zion Missionary Baptist Church 1800 S. Governor St. Norman, the director of the Troy University Rosa Parks Museum, brings her learned perspective to a monumental event: the 1955 Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott and the woman whose name would be forever associated with sparking the modern civil rights movement. Norman’s appearance is in conjuction with “381 Days: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Story,” an exhibition at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science which continues through July 13. Norman’s free lecture is presented by the Evansville Museum in cooperation with the Evansville African American Museum. On June 14, at Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Juanita Jones Abernathy, widow of Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, the closest associate to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will also deliver a lecture about the events in Montgomery and the movement they inspired. (812) 425-2406.

You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown
June 8-10, 15-17. Evansville Civic Theatre, 717 N. Fulton Ave. The Peanuts gang comes to life in a musical inspired by the comic strip penned by the late cartoonist Charles E. Schulz and performed by the highly regarded Evansville Civic Theatre. $12-$17. (812) 425-2800 or www.civic.evansville.net.