The Manton Avenue Project deserves a round of applause for all the good they do in de veloping the creative voices of kids living in Olneyville by pairing children with local theatre professionals to create original plays. The non-profit welcomes the public to its annual fundraiser, the Manton Avenue Project Gala. This year’s event includes a musical performance of reworked kids’ time travel-themed plays as well as a raffle, an auction and a time machine experience. Bring your creative spirit and prepare to be wowed by these tiny talented thespians. June 7. $50 online at Brown Paper Tickets or $60 at the door. 6-9pm. Fete, 103 Dike Street. 383-1112.
The Providence Preservation Society will host the Festival of Historic Houses 2013 (June 7-9) this month. The weekend kicks off with a Friday night progressive cocktail party on the corner of Prospect and Jenckes Streets and continues with a tour of several elegant Prospect Street homes on Saturday afternoon. Participants can nose around, taking in grand architecture, extraordinary interiors, private gardens and sweeping city views. On Sunday, tourgoers will browse loft spaces at Monohasset Mill on the West Side. $35 advance members; $40 advance non-members; $45 day of tickets; $70 advance two-day tickets (Saturday and Sunday). $125 Friday night cocktail event, which includes a ticket for either Saturday or Sunday. 831- 7440.More
Gourmet Heaven has opened at 205 Meeting Street in the space formerly occupied by Cosa Nostra and, before that, Via Via Pizzeria. This is the chain’s fourth location, having made a splash two years ago when it opened Downtown’s only grocery store. Gourmet Heaven also has an extensive prepared foods section and salad bar, and will be open 24/7.
After 28 years in business, Details is closing its doors at 277 Thayer Street. The store’s inventory is on 30% off clearance until the store closes at the beginning of June.
Method Fitness has closed its Wayland Square location in preparation for a move to a bigger facility in Richmond Square, where owner Amahl Harik plans to offer more of their popular programs like boot camp.
Everyone was surprised to hear that Cuban Revolution’s Aborn Street location unexpectedly closed. While there’s no clear story on what happened, some Facebook posts the restaurant made point to problems with their downtown landlord. Cuban’s Valley Street location is open for business as usual.
The Providence Flea is a new, upscale outdoor market selling upscale crafts, jewelry and novelties. It starts June 2 and happens every Sunday through August in the parking lot of the Wild Colonial on South Water Street.More
Ingredients:
6-8 fresh mint leaves
Crushed ice
2-3 oz. bourbon
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. water
Directions:
1. Muddle mint leaves, sugar and water in a glass.
2. Fill glass with crushed ice.
3. Pour in bourbon.
4. Garnish with a sprig of mint
Enjoy.More
One thing Providence does really well is maintain its character while simultaneously incorporating new and innovative technologies. A perfect example is the Cable Car Cinema’s conversion from 35mm film to a digital projector. It’s the way of the industry; many production companies will no longer distribute 35mm film as they are ultimately phased out, relegated to museums and archives. Opened in 1976, the Cable Car has been a mecca for independent films and film festivals but more so, a cornerstone in the community and beloved landmark. This digital conversion is not cheap; in fact, the Cable Car Cinema started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $48,000. The campaign is over, and they raised $54,581. Clearly, the community is on board. The upgrades are expected to be implemented in August. Until then, it may be time for another visit to the movies so that you can experience the clicking and clacking of a soon to be forgotten, century-old film projecting method one more time.More
Have you heard? Athleta, the fitness and lifestyle brand designed by women athletes for women athletes, has opened its first Rhode Island store at the Providence Place Mall. Shop apparel for running, yoga, gym/training, swimming,hiking and everything in between.
Run with Ro is a weekly run club for ladies in the Providence area who want to network while working on their fitness. The group meets at Lippitt Park on Blackstone Boulevard every Wednesday evening at 6:30pm. The run is led by Olympic runner and founder of Believe I Am, Ro McGettigan. More
Recycling can be daunting. While you might fully commit to going green, if your neighbors aren’t doing anything to contribute, it can feel like a wasted effort. Mayor Taveras wants to show us that if we all recycle, we can see some tangible benefits – BBQ benefits, to be precise, and to do it he launched the Neighbhorhood Recycling Challenge. The Providence neighborhood that increases its recycling rate the most between now and September 7 will win a community barbecue with the mayor. Taveras will also bestow upon the victorious district five new trees – a green reward for the greenest community.
Mayor Taveras says that increased recycling saves the city money – as much as $250,000 if residents commit to the task – and those are funds that the city desperately needs. So if BBQ wings, trees or a cleaner environment are not your thing, maybe the promise of keeping property taxes down for another year will be enough to ensure your participation.More
One of our former "10 to Watch" honorees and a former "Most Eligible Singles" cover girl respectively, performers Kristen Minsky and Miss Wensday are heading out on tour. Their adventures in vintage jazz will take them from Providence, through Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, DC, North Carolina and back home, picking up cleverly stashed-away members of their band, The Cotillions, along the way. Of course, with the price of gas these days, it can be tough for a gal to make a living. That's why they've started a Kickstarter campaign to get their show on the road. In exchange for a little travel budget, they're offering everything from autographed prints to show tickets to command performances. We love to see PVD performers going out to conquer the world (or at least the mid-Atlantic), so check them out before the deadline on August 31.More
In light of the recent 38 Studios disaster, there is a lot of talk about economic development in this state, and how best to achieve that goal. The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation kind of owes us one now, seeing as how it, along with the governor, former director Keith Stokes, the local media, the Bilderberg Group, George Soros and pretty much everyone other than Curt Schilling, brought about the untimely demise of such a promising and financially viable company. Now that the State of Rhode Island is unlikely to remain in the MMORPGCF (massively multiplayer online role-playing game clusterf**k) business, it will likely be looking for new opportunities to invest the taxpayers’ hard-earned money in dicey, unproven companies with inexperienced chairmen operating in highly competitive markets with huge development costs – and I believe I have the next $75 million idea.
If the EDC will simply hand over a blank check, I will immediately begin the process of relocating my innovative startup with huge growth potential from its current home in my daydreams to some swanky downtown real estate (I’m looking at you, soon-to-be-vacant Superman Building), bringing with it hundreds of (potential) jobs, millions of dollars in (hypothetical) tax revenue, and several (on layaway) air hockey tables. People of Rhode Island, say hello to the next Enron, Worldcom, Pets.com and Bernie Madoff’s hedge fund all rolled into one. Prepare to witness an explosion of growth and investment in the new Knowledge District, a dramatic drop in the unemployment rate, streets paved with gold, pennies from heaven, a chicken in every pot, 40 acres and a mule, free health care for everyone and lotto scratch tickets that are all winners. I’m talking, of course, about VagiTech.
Think about it: what are America’s two most innovative, high-tech, rapidly growing industries? Biotech and porn. VagiTech combines both. By using embryonic stem cells to develop …More
