n Ashland: A free community soup-and-sandwich lunch will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at Zion’s Reformed Church, 2400 Centre St. The church holds the lunches on the third Wednesday of every month. All are welcome. For more information, call 570-875-2743. The church will also hold a meatloaf dinner from 3 to 6 p.m. today. The cost is $9 and meals will include meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, applesauce, bread and butter, beverage and dessert. For more information, call 570-875-1228.
n New Philadelphia: The Actor’s Guild of Schuylkill County will present “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)” at 7 p.m. July 1 and 2 at the Simon Kramer Institute Theater, 15 Alliance St. The cost is $15 for adults and $10 for students under 18. It is a comedy that portrays all of Shakespeare’s works in a “90-minute romp,” according to a guild release. Tickets will be available at the door. The presentation is not recommended for children under 10. For more information, call 570-691-4602.
n Orwigsburg: An American Red Cross blood drive is set for 1 to 6 p.m. Monday at the Masonic Lodge, 1000 E. Market St. People 17 and older (16 with parental consent) and weighing at least 110 pounds are urged to donate blood. For more information or to arrange for an appointment, call 800-733-2767.
n Primrose: “The Kurious,” a kickoff to the 81st annual St. Nicholas Church parish picnic, will be held from 8 p.m. to midnight July 1 in St. Nicholas Hall, Route 901. Tickets are $10 and the event will include classic rock music. For information or advance tickets, call 570-544-5111 or 570-544-4581. The picnic will be held from 4 p.m. to midnight July 2 and 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. July 3 at the St. Nicholas Picnic Grove near the hall. It will feature homemade ethnic food, entertainment, refreshments, theme baskets, novelties, bingo and other activities. Admission to the picnic is free.
n Shenandoah: The Greater Shenandoah Area Historical Society will host a Youth Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and is inviting regional young people from Shenandoah Valley and the northern Schuylkill regional parochial school Trinity Academy in the Father Walter J. Ciszek Education Center to attend to see displays, learn about area history and gather information for Shenandoah Sesquicentennial Youth Day to be held Aug. 22. The society’s headquarters is at 201 S. Main St. For more information, call 570-462-4402.
n Shenandoah: The region’s oldest and longest continually running downtown open-air farm market will make its official start Friday. The market has been held Tuesday and Fridays mornings throughout the growing season and into the fall since the early 1970s, the brainchild of the late Greater Shenandoah Area Chamber of Commerce Director Sam Schutawie. Regional growers will feature produce, flowers, plants and even baked goods from roughly 8 a.m. to noon along the east side of the first block of South Main Street and at times even on the south side of the first block of East Centre Street near the more than century-old former Bolich & Burke Building. The market is sponsored by the Greater Shenandoah Area Chamber of Commerce and Mark Bernardyn is chairman of the chamber’s market committee. New growers are always welcome. For more information, email to Bernardyn at mbernardyn@mtb.com or to chamber Secretary Betty Ann Bugden at hairlady@ptd.net.
n Valley View: The St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church Men’s Bible Class will hold it’s 66th annual Father’s Day Breakfast from 5 to 7 a.m. Sunday in the eating house at the Valley View Park. The breakfast, according to a release, has gone on continuously since a group of men from the St. Andrew’s Bible Class attended a breakfast for the Men’s Bible Classes of Schuylkill County in Pottsville in 1949. The original breakfast was attended by Earl Unger, Robert Bair, George D. Wenrich and his son, Paul Wenrich. Over the years, the food and supplies that are used have come from various places as local dairies, egg producers and grocery stores have supplied and donated food for the breakfast. The cost of the meal is by donation only. For more information, call 570-573-9467.