n Barnesville: Conservation volunteer and avid birder John Domalakes will lead an early morning bird walk at 7:30 a.m. May 7 at Locust Lake State Park. The walk will begin at the visitor parking lot. Hikers are encouraged to bring binoculars and a favorite field guide. Some binoculars will be available to borrow. No pets are allowed. The program is free and open to the public.
n Pine Grove: The Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania will stage a barn tour beginning at 7:45 a.m. June 10 and 11 from Comfort Inn, 433 Suedburg Road. The cost is $60. It will be a guided bus tour of southern Schuylkill historic barns. The deadline to register is May 10. For more information, call 570-345-8651 or email jlengle3424@comcast.net. More information is available online at www.pahistoricbarns.org.
n Pottsville: The Pottsville Recreation Commission will have a citywide yard sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 7 at the Union Station parking lot, Progress Avenue and Union Street. People can rent spaces for $10 to bring their own table and sell their own items. The event is available to individuals, clubs, organizations and vendors. People can also organize individual or neighborhood sales at their own locations by contacting the commission at 570-449-3847 to be included on a map of sales for that day. The commission will also have a Chinese auction from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday. The cost is $5 for a sheet of 25 tickets. Call the aforementioned number for more information.
n Pottsville: The Pottsville Free Public Library and Lodge 341 Vermissa (from “The Valley of Fear”), a “traditional Sherlockian Literary Society,” will present “Saturday with Sherlock Holmes” from 1 to 4 p.m. May 21 at the library. Julianne Burke will teach a free Sherlockian literary course at the library and hopes that participants will continue to meet quarterly for lunch as a new Sherlockian literary society. “Sherlockians” are enthusiasts who have an overwhelming interest in fiction’s greatest consulting detective who used remarkable observation and deduction to solve cases or problems. Burke, according to a release, is a Schuylkill County native who has been a Sherlock Holmes devotee since she was 11 in 1990. For the past 10 years, Burke said, she’s traveled throughout the mid-Atlantic region to attend Sherlock Holmes society meetings and give talks on various subjects related to the Holmes stories, particularly “The Valley of Fear,” which has a flashback that is a thinly-veiled retelling of the Molly Maguire saga set in Schuylkill County. To register for the course or for more information, Burke can be reached at 717-886-9191 or via email at Julianne221b@gmail.com.
n Ringtown: The Ringtown Area Library will hold a 40th anniversary “Wine and Food Gala” from 6 to 8 p.m. June 4 at the library, 132 W. Main St. Food will be prepared and provided by local restaurants and culinary artists. Guests will taste a variety of local, national and international wines. Non-alcoholic beverages also will be available for all guests to enjoy. The cost is $40 per person and tickets are available at the library, which also is inviting all interested businesses and individuals to become an event sponsor. Sponsorships will help to defray the costs associated with the fundraiser and ultimately benefit the library’s annual operating costs. For tickets or sponsorship information, visit the library, email ringtownlibrary@epix.net or call 570-889-5503.
n Summit Station: The votes are in and the logo chosen by the public to best fit with the theme “Growing Things” for the 2016 Schuylkill County Fair, by a slim margin, is a simple four-leaf clover growing out of rich, dark soil. Votes were cast via the fair’s website at www.schuylkillfair.com. The “Growing Things” logo will not replace the fair’s traditional logo of the man holding the watermelon but will be use in addition to help promote the fair’s theme of “We have good things growing,” according to a fair press release. Look for 2016 logo and theme to appear in numerous publications. The 33rd fair is set to run Aug. 1 through 6 at the fairgrounds here.