Dearborn Heights Montessori Center (DHMC) will host the fourth annual “Taste of the Town” fundraiser event from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, 2011.

Attendees will be able to sample a wide variety of delicious food items from local restaurants and have an opportunity to win valuable prizes donated by area businesses. Rain or shine, the community is welcome to attend this indoor school event which is located at 466 N. John Daly in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.

Shelley Boatright, DHMC’s communications coordinator, advises people to purchase tickets in advance for this sell-out event. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students. Children under three years of age are free. Ample parking is available.

Providing food for this year’s event are Antonio’s Cucina Italiana, Applebee’s, Bangkok 96, Cutter’s Restaurant, Dearborn Sausage, Del Taco, Jimmy Johns, Mexican Fiesta, Morsels of Traverse City, Papa Romano’s, Panera, Pizzapapalis, Rio Wraps, and others.

Businesses contributing prizes for the gift basket drawings include Creatopia Pottery, Dearborn Racquet and Health Club, English Gardens, Entertainment Express, Gordon Food Service, Om Spa, Upstairs Downstairs Remodeling and many more. Prize baskets will include a variety of items from toys to event tickets to electronics, featuring an iPad and XBox 360. There will also be a special raffle for a cruise from Corporate Travel, a seven course meal for 20 people at Antonio’s Cuciana Italiana, and a $500 tuition voucher from DHMC.

Proceeds raised at this year’s event will be used to help fund Dearborn Heights Montessori’s upper elementary educational trips to Rock Glen, Chicago and Washington, D.C., and to support the needs of the school’s classroom teachers.

For more details and to request tickets for “Taste of the Town,” call 313-359-3000 or email tasteofthetown@wowway.com

About Dearborn Heights Montessori Center

Dearborn Heights Montessori Center (DHMC) is a non-profit educational community founded in 1972. Now in its fourth decade, DHMC is the largest and longest-established Montessori school in western Wayne County. Programs include toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school as well as summer programs and academic tutoring. Day care and latchkey are also available for enrolled children. DHMC has received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and is affiliated with the American Montessori Society, Michigan Montessori Society, and the Association of Independent Michigan Schools (AIMS). DHMC preschool and latchkey programs, along with its satellites Livonia Montessori Center and Plymouth-Canton Montessori School, are licensed by the Michigan Division of Child and Adult Licensing.

The City Council study session touched on several topics Wednesday night, including whether to raise parking fees or raise parking fines.

City Council is also asking for data on parking tickets, apparently trying to determine whether raising fines might generate additional funding rather than raising parking fees.

When any changes will take place still hasn’t been shared. We are told by one councilman that this is “information gathering” right now and no action is planned yet.

With the parking system hemorrhaging, odds are good a change will come sooner rather than later.

Stay tuned . . .

The contentious issue of paid parking in downtown West Dearborn will be the topic of a City Council study session on Wednesday, March 9, at Dearborn City Hall.

The meeting takes place at 5:30 p.m. in the Mayor’s Conference Room. We will have more details about the upcoming meeting later today.

While it is a bit early to think about lawn work, the City of Dearborn will start its curbside collection of yard waste material the week of March 14 so residents can dispose of materials left over from the fall and early winter.

Beginning the week of March 14, residents can put yard waste in properly marked containers at the curb on their trash collection day, weather permitting.

The mid-March start up allows residents to get a jump on spring cleanup and dispose of materials left over from the fall.

Residents are reminded to place the yard waste materials in the proper containers at least three feet away from their trash cart and recycling cart.

Residents can place their yard waste in paper bags or in their own 20-32 gallon container. Cardboard boxes and plastic bags are not permitted. Containers should be marked with yard waste stickers, which are available for free at the Dearborn Public Libraries, Mayor’s Office, and Public Works Yard.

City officials say do not put yard waste in your trash cart or your recycling cart. Yard waste is classified as grass clippings, weeds, leaves, and shrub and brush trimmings.

Fruits, vegetables, dirt, sod, and animal droppings should not be mixed in to yard waste. Roots should be free of dirt.

Brush can be up to four feet in length and three inches in diameter. It should be tied with heavy cord or rope and weigh no more than 35 pounds. Shrubs should be bundled the same way, with root balls removed.

For more information, call the Department of Public Works at 313.943.2085.

Heads up to those out and about on Saturday. The northbound and southbound lanes of Southfield Freeway (M-39) will be closed, between Ford Road (M-153) and M-10, for bridge demolition beginning at 9:00 p.m. on Friday, March 4 and ending by 5:00 a.m. on Monday, March 7.

Entrance ramps to northbound and southbound Southfield within the closure limits will begin closing at 8:00 p.m., including those at the I-96 interchange. During the full closure, Southfield traffic will be detoured to Telegraph Road (US-24).

Motor City Brass Band (MCBB), a metro Detroit British-style brass band, is pleased to announce its Motor City Festival of Bands II, which is back by popular request after the success of last year’s Festival of Bands.

The concert is Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m. at the Michael Guido Theater in Dearborn’s Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.

MCBB will be joined by four Michigan bands, with each band playing a 20-minute segment. The concert will begin with a massed fanfare of cornet and trumpet players from all five bands. The end of the concert will feature two massed-band pieces in which all 288 band members participate. The participating bands are:

• Farmington Community Band under the baton of Damien Crutcher, Resident Conductor and Music Director

• Motor City Brass Band under the direction of Craig Strain, Music Director and Conductor

• Oakland University Brass Band, under the baton of Dr. Kenneth Kroesche, Director

• Plymouth Community Band under the direction of Carl Battishill, Director

• Washtenaw Community Concert Band guided by Dr. Jerry Robbins, Director

MCBB will perform three pieces starting with Paul Dukas’ “Fanfare” from La Péri, from the composer’s final work. The London Overture by Philip Sparke will follow. Sparke is a British composer noted for his band music. “Gee, Officer Krupke” from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein will bring a taste of Broadway to the performance.

All five bands will combine under the baton of Charles Greenwell to perform Amparito Roca by Jaime Texidor. This piece will feature the mallet percussionists from all bands in an arrangement by Craig Strain, Motor City Brass Band Musical Director and Conductor. The concert will conclude with The Pines of the Appian Way from The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi.

Guest conductor Charles Greenwell has conducted many ensembles in his career including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, among others. Currently he is Conducting Assistant with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and holds the title of conductor and Music Director of both the Southern Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra.

Ticket Information

Tickets purchased from the FCPAC Box Office are $15 for adults and $12 for students & seniors. The FCPAC Box Office can be reached at 313-943-2354.

Concert Information

Motor City Festival of Bands II

Motor City Brass Band

Sunday, March 13, 3:00 PM

Ford Community & Performing Arts Center

15801 Michigan Avenue

Dearborn, MI 48126