Dinner and show to be at Arts Place

Arts Place will have a tapas dinner and performance on Saturday, Feb. 14. The dinner will begin at 5:45 p.m. and Joshua Carswell will perform at 7:30 p.m. Carswell is a winner of one of the nation’s most prestigious vocal contests, American Traditions Competition in Savannah, Georgia.
Tickets for the dinner are $20 and need to be purchased in advance. Advance tickets for the performance are $20 for adults or $10 for students. Tickets may be purchased at www.artsland.org, by calling (260) 726-4809 or at Arts Place, 131 E. Walnut St. in Portland.
Tickets for the performance will also be available at the door for $23 for adults and $11.50 for students.

Speech winners
Pennville Elementary School recently held its Optimist Oratorical Contest.
The girl winner was Madison Springer, a fourth grade student, and the daughter of Nathan and Wendy Springer, Pennville.
The girl runner-up fifth grader Kaelyn Denney, the daughter of Lizabeth Denney, Pennville.
The boy winner was Nathaniel Paxson, a fourth grade student, and the son of Daniel and Angela Paxson, Bryant.
The boy runner-up was fourth grader Logan Zimmerman, the son of Josh and Rebecca Zimmerman, Pennville.
Springer and Paxson will advance to the Optimist Oratorical County Contest to be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 12 at General Shanks Elementary.

Blood drive
The first blood drive to honor Joshua Johnson, a six-year-old being treated for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 9 at Bloomfield Elementary.
Johnson is the son of Amanda Oliver of Dunkirk. He is a kindergarten student at Westlawn Elementary in Dunkirk.
To schedule an appointment, call 1-800-RED-CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org.
Other blood drives will be held Feb. 17 at Pennville and Redkey elementaries, Feb. 19 at Judge Haynes and Feb. 20 at Westlawn in Dunkirk.