The Whole Town's On Sale!

1. Most of Livingston is going on sale today!  Livingston Shop & Eat Around will give you the chance to save while visiting shops, eateries, fitness centers, beauty salons and service providers. Each participating business has donated gift certificates totaling more than $5,000 for a huge town-wide prize drawing, and Regal Bank has contributed an iPad to the raffle.

The March 15 discount day is part of an ongoing series to help bolster local business and show people in other towns what Livingston has to offer. This series of town-wide events is sponsored by the Livingston Business Improvement District (BID). Additional details and a list of participating businesses are available at www.facebook.com/FindYourselfInLivingston.

2. Great American Musicals from Broadway and Hollywood, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. at the Livingston Public Library. The presenter, Rick Busciglio, will be your guide for a nostalgic tour of American musical favorites. He draws on 45+ years in broadcasting and his lifelong love of music for an entertaining evening. 

The program is a salute to the music from Broadway, Hollywood, New Orleans, Tin Pan Alley and the "melody makers" -- the bands and singers that brought the music to us via the radio, recordings and live events in the period from the 1920s to the 1960s.  This is the golden period of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Larry Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, Jimmy Van Heusen, Harold Arlen, and Harry Warren.

This library program is presented with funding from sponsored by the Friends of the Livingston Public Library, and is free and open to all.  No registration is required.

3. 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee presented March 17-March 19 by Lancer Theatre. The Livingston High School production will take place in the High School Auditorium at 8 p.m.  Tickets may be purchased by e-mail @ lhstickets@livingston.org. They will aslo be on sale 10:15 a.m. to 1 p.m.  All visitors to the building must enter through the main entrance and check in with security.  Tickets will be sold for $15 for adults and $12 for students.

4. Happy Purim! Check listings for a Megillah reading near you. The festive holiday centers around Queen Esther, King Ahasuerus (or Achashverosh), Mordecahi and Haman.  It is a celebration of a major victory against oppression of the Jews in the Persian Empire in the fifth century BCE.

5. Spring Vernal Equinox. On Sunday, March 20, this is the day when there is exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime. But, did you know that this is only true on the Equator?  There is more or less depending upon where we live on the planet. 

Fact:  On the Spring Vernal Equinox, we celebrate International Earth Day, which was initiated to make earth inhabitants aware of their responsibility to care for the planet.  This care includes environmental and natural resources. International Earth Day was founded by John McConnell, of Davis City, Iowa. In September, 1969, he proposed the establishment of Earth Day to the San Francisco California Board of Supervisors. After approval, he gained support from many others, including then UN General Secretary U Thant.  In 1970, McConnell wrote an Earth Day Proclamation which was ultimately signed by UN Secretary General U Thant on March 21, 1971.