Spay/Neuter Clinic

Lopez Animal Protection Society is offering its spring low cost clinic. Any Lopez cat can be spayed or neutered for $10; dogs are $20. Please call 468-2258 or 468-2591.

Lopez chess

Come to the Lopez Library community room on Wednesday April 16, at 7 p.m. to play chess. All ages and experience levels are welcome. Snacks provided. Call John at 468-3224 or Jerry at 468-4709 or email LopezChess@gmail.com.

Friends of Lopez Library annual meeting

The Friends of Lopez Library will hold their annual meeting on Thursday, April 17, 5-7 p.m. at the Library. Library and Friends volunteers will be recognized for their contributions of time and effort. New Friends board members, past and present, Library volunteers, book sale volunteers, and supporters of the Library are welcome to attend. Come enjoy food, drink, visiting with friends, and a short annual meeting. Molly Swan-Sheeran is the guest poet and will read some of her work.

Flute concert at Grace Church

A six century solo flute extravaganza will be presented with Jeffrey Cohan playing 14 transverse flutes from the renaissance through the present on Wednesday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Grace Church at 70 Sunset Lane (just north of Lopez Village) on Lopez Island. Admission will be by free will offering. Youth 18 and under are encouraged to attend for free. For further information the public may call (360) 468-3477.

Community dinner at Lopez School

Come join a community dinner of local, seasonal delicacies prepared by famous chefs at an affordable price! The next community dinner will be held on April 24 in the multi-purpose room of the Lopez School from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Adults: $5. Families: $15. Everyone is welcome!

Poet Joseph Green to read

Visiting poet Joseph Green will offer a poetry reading for the community at the Orcas Library on Friday, April 18 at 7:00. This event is supported by the Library and Friends of the Library. As PEN Northwest’s Boyden Wilderness Writer for 2000, Joe spent seven months, alone most of the time, at the Dutch Henry Homestead in Oregon’s Rogue River Canyon. That experience produced many of the poems in The End of Forgiveness, which won the Floating Bridge Press Poetry Chapbook Award for 2001. Joe’s poetry has appeared in such publications as The Bellingham Review, Crab Creek Review, 5 AM, Free Lunch, Hubbub, Pearl, and others in the United States, as well as Litspeak Dresden, in Germany, and Departures: New Series and The Stony Thursday Book in Ireland.

From Memphis to Motown

The Randy Oxford Band will perform on Saturday, April 26, 7:30 p.m. at Lopez Center. Tickets are available in advance from Lopez Center or online. Tickets are $20. An evening with the award-winning Randy Oxford Band:smart, danceable, horn-driven blues, featuring five different vocalists and performing its “From Memphis to Motown” show. Go to www.lopezcenter.com for tickets.

Babysitting clinic

There will be a babysitting clinic on Sunday, April 27 in the Eastsound Fire Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for girls and boys, grades 6 and up. This class is being offered to supply the education needed to provide excellent child care as a babysitter for kids of all ages. Each participant will receive a babysitting certificate and be placed on a community babysitters list. Please bring your ideas for games, recipes, and activities you think are fun for babysitting. Please bring a sack lunch, snacks, and a drink. Space is limited to 18 participants. Call 376-5339 to register. The cost is $20. This program is brought to you by the Orcas Island Recreation Program.

Marine Naturalist “Gear Up” workshop

The Whale Museum is hosting a Marine Naturalist Gear-up workshop on Tuesday, May 6 at the Grange Hall in Friday Harbor from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This annual one-day workshop is offered as continuing educational training for naturalists. This year’s program will feature a discussion about the new Salish Sea Association of Marine Naturalists (SSAMN), being formed through The Whale Museum. Topics and speakers for the session include: a lecture about local sharks by Brooke Nelson of the Seattle Aquarium; an introduction to Darcie Larson, the new executive director of the Whale Watch Operators Association Northwest; and an update about current acoustic research projects from students and instructors in the Beam Reach – Marine Science and Sustainability School. If you are a working marine naturalist or have graduated from The Whale Museum’s Marine Naturalist Training Program and are interested in attending, please call The Whale Museum (360) 378-4710 ext. 23 to confirm your participation or download a registration form from www.whalemuseum.org. Advanced registration is recommended and there is a $25 fee for attending. Registration will also be available at the door.