• The Irvington Garden Club will meet at 6:30 p.m., on January 27, at the Irvington Presbyterian Church, 55 S. Johnson. Justin St. John of Maximum Grow Gardening will present a program on hydroponics (a method of growing plants using nutrient solutions in water). Located at 6117 East Washington Street, Maximum Grow Gardening, sells hydroponic systems, lighting, controllers and supplies. Guests are welcome to attend.
• All Indianapolis Public Library locations will be closed on Jan. 20 in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, except the InfoZone, located within The Children’s Museum at 3000 N. Meridian St., which will be open from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• For the fourth year, a blood drive held in memory of fallen IMPD Officer David Moore is scheduled for Jan. 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at The Platform (west wing of the City Market), 202 East Market St. The public is encouraged to volunteer blood donations at the event which is held in conjunction with the Indiana Blood Center. Donors must be 17 years old (16 with parental consent) and weigh at least 110 pounds. Donors who are unable to attend the City Market blood drive are encouraged to donate at any of Indiana Blood Center’s nine locations throughout the state. Please visit www.indianablood.org for more information.
• The Metropolitan School District of Warren Township Board of Education will host a Legislative Forum on Jan. 25 beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the Warren Education and Community Center at 975 N. Post Rd. This forum is open to the public and the Warren Board of Education strongly encourages staff members, parents, students, and community patrons to attend and share your ideas and concerns with our state legislators.
• Garfield Park is opening a new exhibition, “Family: Past and Present” by Southport Artistry, Jan. 18 at the Art Center. The opening reception is Jan. 18 from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit runs until Feb. 22 and will be open during regular GPAC hours. Call 327-7135 or visit www.gpacarts.org for more information.
• A big thank you needs to go out to all the people who volunteered to brave the cold to remove graffiti from the vandalized signal boxes in Irvington. The boxes on Brookville Rd. and Arlington were vandalized in the middle of the night; Rita Spalding took a photo of the damage done to hers and posted it on Facebook. Within hours, she received hundreds of e-mails and pledges to help clean it up. Fortunately, hers was restored, but one on Brookville Rd. was very badly damaged.
If anything, the experience brought home the fact that the east side wants public art, and is willing to fight for it. Foundation East, the organizers of the signal box art, have done an amazing job bringing artists, the arts, and the community together.
• It was good to see neighbors helping neighbors in the aftermath of Snowpalooza 2014. Block by block, people pitched in to clear sidewalks and get cars unstuck. In Irvington Terrace, one good neighbor rented a Bob Cat and dug his neighbors out.