What, pray tell, is the Love-A-Thon: Puppet Prom? It’s a very cool fundraising for Squallis Puppeteers that features food, cash bar, puppets, live music, dancing, “optional prom attire”, a puppet show and fun activities, you know, for the kids. If you go to this event I do hope you’ll dress in prom attire and take pictures that you’ll share with us!

Saturday February 11, 2012
6PM-10PM
Admission is sliding scale with a $10 minimum and $25 suggested adult price

Bonus fun: Supertruck will be playing at the event and filming a video for Everybody’s Hugging.

Squallis Puppeteers
770 Eastern Parkway
Louisville, KY

Loosen your tie and enjoy cold beer from local breweries, sample some tasty bites from a delicious array of NuLu eateries and neighboring restaurants, all in support of Actors Theatre of Louisville. Plus, get an inside scoop on the upcoming Humana Festival of New American Plays-the premiere new play festival in the nation-with excerpts from the shows performed by Actors Theatre’s Acting Apprentice Company. There will also be a chance to enter to win a Humana Locals Pass.

Thursday February 23, 2012
6:30PM

Tickets: $25 for Go Board Members, $35 for Non-Members.
Proceeds go to support the Actors Theatre Apprentice Company

To purchase tickets or for more information, please call the Box Office at 502-584-1205

The Green Building
732 E. Market Street

Guests at the Alzheimer’s Association’s annual “Making Memories” dinner and auction will enjoy tasting a selection of Brown-Forman spirits, and will have the opportunity to bid on luxurious auction items.

The event will be held at Horseshoe Casino in Southern Indiana on Saturday, Feb. 25.

Based on the theme, “A Night on Bourbon Street,” the fundraiser will feature New Orleans-inspired cuisine, tasting of Brown-Forman spirits, and live music. Among the items up for bid is a New Orleans getaway with airfare included.

The event benefits programs of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Greater Kentucky & Southern Indiana Chapter, including the 24-Hour Helpline, Medic Alert/Safe Return Program, Family Support Groups and respite for caregivers.

Open seating tickets for Making Memories are $100 per person or $1,500 for a table sponsorship including a reserved table for 10. Contact Devin Roos, 502-451-4266, to purchase. A discounted room rate of $209/night at the Horseshoe Casino Hotel also is available for Making Memories guests.

So the winner is going to get two tickets to this event where there will be good booze, good food, gambling and chances to bid on cool stuff for a good cause. This is a good thing.

To be entered to win leave a comment telling us about a senior citizen who has enriched your life. I’ll choose one winner at random from all the entries I receive by 3PM on Wednesday February 8, 2012.

Saturday February 25, 2012
6:30PM

Horseshoe Casino
11999 Casino Center Drive SE
Elizabeth, Indiana

In just a little over two weeks’ time a client that is nonverbal and has never been able to communicate his wants and feelings easily can now use the iPad to tell people he is happy, sad, hungry, tired, cold and many other things. His parents are so overwhelmed with joy that he can now express emotion with a click of his finger.

Wow! I mean, just wow. Those of us who love technology know what a powerful tool it can be but even still I find I’m amazed at this story. After Christine told us about the young man she said the one problem with this situation is that they only have three iPads at their center and they’re pretty much always in use. This means the young man from the story can’t ever take an iPad home with him. That means this tool he’s now using to communicate his emotions to other people can’t go with him home at night or on weekends or holidays, etc. That broke my heart a little bit and before I could stop myself I said that I was sure the community could pull together the funds to buy an iPad that will be available for this young man to take home with him.

So Apple Patch has arranged a specific fund to buy two more iPads so there will be one more in their general rotation and one more for the non-verbal young man to take home with him.

One of the iPads that will hopefully come from this fundraiser will be dedicated to that client to be a take home item. He will be allowed to take it home with him to help he communicate with his parents and other around him. His family is unable to purchase an iPad for him at it would mean a world of difference in his life to have one at home.

I really, really hope we can come together and make this a successful fundraiser. This is chance to pitch in a few dollars to make a concrete difference in someone’s life.

The Louisville Lightning Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL) Team is partnering with the YUM! Brands to battle hunger benefiting Dare to Care Food Bank and host a white-out themed soccer game on Friday, February 3, at Mockingbird Valley Sports Complex against the Ohio Vortex.

The Louisville Lightning Players have picked a Protein Pick of the Week to encourage canned good donations for every home game. Lightning fans are encouraged to bring a jar of Peanut Butter to the white-out game to receive 20% off $10 tickets purchased at the door on game night.

Friday February 3, 2012
7:30PM

Mockingbird Valley Sports Complex
3000 Mellwood Ave
Louisville, KY 40207

I have started the process of getting permission from owners to include their restaurants in the app and the response thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. It will take time for me to reach out to the dozens and dozens of owners on my spreadsheet (spreadsheet! My dad would be so proud). If any restaurant owner would like nudge me to make sure I get to their restaurant quickly they can fill out this very simple form. Please share that link with any restaurant owners/managers you know who might like their restaurant included in Menu and Hours.

2. I’ll be out of town next week so posting will be light around here. I have a few posts queued up (including some excellent “One Thing I Love About Louisville” entries) so it won’t be completely quiet though.

3. If you haven’t yet read the Louisville Digital Association’s position on SOPA I strongly encourage you to do so now.

4. It occurs to me that we’re just about 3 months away from Consuming Louisville’s fifth birthday. Thinking about that milestone fills me with great joy and great gratitude for every person who has ever read Consuming Louisville, ever left a comment, ever sent in a tip, ever shared a link or told a friend about the site. Thank you all so much for embracing the site and its mission to share the word on some of the insanely awesome stuff Louisville offers us everyday.

5. Voting is still going on in the “South’s Tastiest Towns” contest. We keep jockeying for 1st place with Lafayette, Louisiana. At the time of this writing we’re down about 800 votes. Your vote could help change that.

The Manhattan TEDx folks, for the second year in a row, have organized an event around the sustainable food movement that will be available for groups in other cities, like say Louisville to view live.

TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” will take place January 21st, 2012, in New York City. The one-day event will highlight several aspects of the sustainable food movement and the work being done to shift our food system from industrially-based agriculture to one in which healthy, nutritious food is accessible to all.

Speakers with various backgrounds in food and farming will share their insights and expertise. Relevant clips from the TED conference will be shown. And, hopefully, we’ll have a few surprises during the day. A highlight of the event is the ample time given for attendees to meet each other and look for new synergies and new ideas to help bolster the sustainable food movement.

The viewing party for the event here is at the main branch of the LFPL. It’s a free event (including lunch) but you need to register in advance to attend.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, MAIN LIBRARY, 301 York Street
Registration: 9:30 a.m.
Local program begins: 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
TedXManhattan Live Streaming/Viewing: 10:30 – 12:15 pm
Mayor Greg Fischer: 12:15
Breakout rooms/sessions; Lunch: 12:30 – 1:30 pm
TedXManhattan Live Streaming/Viewing: 1:30 pm – 3:15 (Local programming ends)
TedXManhattan Live Streaming/Viewing: 4:00 – 6 pm

Brooklawn is specifically asking for winter related items like coats, hats, gloves, etc but you could also choose other practical items like socks and bath mats from their wishlist.

With winter well underway, the organization is still looking for cold weather items to keep its more than 100 children and adolescents who live on campus warm and cozy. Items requested from the wish list are throw blankets, glove/scarf sets and heavy coats and jackets.

The wish list is a part of Brooklawn’s multi-year ‘Help Make it Home for Me’ campaign with a mission of transforming the 16 cottage residencies into more comfortable, safe and loving residential homes. Funds raised through the campaign and donations that come through Amazon.com will be used for projects such as outfitting kitchens and creating cozier bedrooms to upgrading landscaping and outdoor play areas.

If you aren’t familiar with Brooklawn here’s some info:
“Celebrating more than 160 years in Louisville, Brooklawn provides comprehensive care, treatment, and education for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and is one of the largest agencies of its kind in the state of Kentucky. Children and adolescents admitted to Brooklawn have often been victims of severe abuse, neglect or other trauma, and are able to heal under the supervision of professional counselors and caregivers while in residence. Each year, Brooklawn’s programs serve over 600 boys and girls ages 6 to 19 from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky without regard to race, creed or national origin.

For $10 you can get an early look at Taco Punk the restaurant and get a meal next Friday night. For $25 you get all that plus a Slow Food membership and a raffle entry. Not a bad deal. You’ll need to order your tickets for the event in advance which you can easily do online.

Taco Punk
736 E. Market Street
Louisville, KY

Welcome, Louisville, to your very own meal-based micro-grant producing community activity!

With an opening line like that how could I not be intrigued? It seems like posSOUPbility (it’s going to be impossible for me to type that correctly) is a combination of crowd funding of creative projects and locavore eating. It’s like if Kickstarter and your CSA had a baby or something. It’s part of the Sunday Soup network which describes itself thusly:

The Soup Grant is a grassroots model for funding small to medium sized creative projects through community meals. The basic formula is that a group of people come together to share a meal and that meal is sold for an affordable price. All the income from that meal is given as a grant to support a creative project. Grant applications are accepted up until the meal, everyone who purchases the meal gets one vote to determine who receives the grant. The grants are completely unrestricted and will be awarded at the discretion of the customers.

Very, very cool right? The first posSOUPbility event in Louisville is going to be on January 29 at the Water Tower and tickets are $10 cash. They ask that you RSVP so they know how many people to expect and also that you let them know of any dietary restrictions, they happy to work around them,

The group is accepting applications for the first grant until January 15th.

Do you have a great idea that could benefit the local community? That’s half the battle! We welcome artists, writers, farmers, chefs, teachers, engineers, community volunteers, and anyone in between to apply. Groups and collaborative projects are also encouraged! Keep in mind that we’re looking for ideas/projects/programs that are new or emerging.

I think this is a great, great, great idea and I hope B and I can attend the dinner next month.