For the third year in a row, the East Lincoln County Quick Response Team will be sponsoring a Garden Art Faire at the Blodgett Café, located just off Highway 20.

From 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday, a variety of arts and crafts, music and other entertainment will be available to the public. Items for sale will include birdhouses, indoor and outdoor art objects, handmade jewelry and fabric items and much more for sale, including the ever-popular "pre-owned" treasures.

The Wild Mountain Quilters make quilts for foster and displaced children in the county area, and will be raffling off a quilt at the Garden Art Faire to raise money to buy new fabrics.

The Eddyville Charter School African drummers will beat out their rhythms at noon, followed by singers Jim and Jules Kassner.

For this special occasion, the café once again will be open with a limited assortment of delectable edibles.

All proceeds will go directly to support our local East Lincoln County QRT.

Eddyville Charter School hosts 'Spring Fling'

The East Lincoln County QRT is a busy bunch this week. The annual fundraising dinner is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 21, in conjunction with Eddyville Charter School's yearly Spring Fling.

Ham will be the featured meat this year, with side dishes of scalloped potatoes, salad, corn, roll and a beverage - all for $6! ($3 for kids younger than 5). Desserts will be available for at an additional cost.

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will be assisting in serving the meal and will also be matching funds donated for the dinner to benefit the QRT.

During dinnertime, the quick response team will honor two longtime dedicated responders who will be retiring from service in June. Hugh Cochran and Colleen Mulberry have been answering emergency calls since the emergency response team was formed more than 23 years ago.

Four new QRT volunteers will be welcomed to the team at this time: Debbie Rariden, Lisa Renfrow and Steve Jorgensen of Harlan and Jay Sampson of Eddyville.

After dinner, the Elementary Choir and the ECS African drummers will perform.

As always, there will be lots of Spring Fling activities that evening, including a book fair, sales of plants grown by the horticultural class and wood items produced by the wood shop class.

Summit Cemetery cleanup set for Saturday

It will be a busy weekend up in Summit. At 10 a.m. Saturday, volunteers will gather at the Summit Cemetery for the Annual Spring Cleanup. Anyone willing to do a bit of mowing, weed eating or gardening is invited to help out. Bring gloves and favorite gardening tools.

From 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, the Summit Center will be the site of a community market. This is an opportunity to share produce, seeds, plants starts, tools, gardening tips, entertainment or whatever.

The Marys River Watershed Council will be on hand around 3 p.m. to educate locals on their habitat restoration projects and ways they can help the river thrive. This should be of particular interest to Summiteers because the source of the Marys River is near Summit.

Work by two local artists gains wider notice

A couple of our local artists have received some favorable attention lately. Oil paintings by Bea Rubenfeldt of Nashville are on display at Fireworks restaurant on Third Street in Corvallis.

Earl Newman of Summit, a well-known silkscreen and watercolor artist, will be featured on OPB's Art Beat at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 21, and at 6 p.m. Sunday, May 24.

Nashville resident Kathi Downing can be contacted at ramdown@peak.org or 456-4252.