Community Notes 02-09-2011

1. Cirque du Soleil’s Valentine’s Day offer. Take advantage of Cirque du Soleil’s Valentine’s Day offers and speak the language of the soul! Offer your Valentine a moment of pure emotion, beauty and love that will whisk you both away and fire up your imagination!Buy one ticket and get the second one at half price. Act fast though, the offer expires February 15! OVO by Cirque du Soleil is a headlong rush into a colorful ecosystem teeming with life, where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy and movement. The performance will be opening on March 10, under the Big Top at Sam Houston Race Park. Click here to receive this very special offer, no additional promo code is needed. www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/ovo/tickets/houston/valentine-offers.aspx&cid=hadley/ovo/houston/vday/cec.
2. TCEQ Environmental Trade Fair and Conference. Registration for the Environmental Trade Fair and Conference has opened. The conference will take place in Austin from May 3-4. It is Texas’ premier environmental educational forum, considered by many to be one of the best in the country. To learn more about the conference and to register, visit http://www.tceq.texas.gov/p2/events/etfc/etf.html.
3. Coastal Habitat Grant Opportunity. The deadline for the Coastal Habitat Grant has been extended for two weeks because of the weather and rolling blackouts. The applications are now due on Monday, February 21st. The grant is available for organizations that have a coastal habitat conservation, restoration or enhancement project in the 41-county area of the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. The Great Texas Birding Classic awards conservation grants in the amount of $10,000, $5,000 or $3,000. Find out more by visiting http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/birding/gtbc/prizes/.
4. East End Park Student Photo Contest winners announced. This year’s Student Photo Contest was an amazing success. Nearly 200 students submitted almost 900 photos! It was so hard to choose that two new $250 prizes for Outstanding Portfolio were added. East End Park is a 158.5-acre park located at the east end of Kingwood Drive. The Park is perhaps the richest remaining vestige of the Big Thicket bio-system in Harris County, containing woodland, meadow, wetlands, and riverine areas. This urban nature preserve has 3.5 miles of developed trails and 2 miles of nature trails. In addition to deer and alligators, the park is a favorite of local birders who have identified 130 species of birds in the park, including several that are threatened or endangered. More at www.eastendpark.com.
5. Rescheduled: Food, Inc. Emerson Unitarian Universalit Church is offering a Slow Food potluck and movie screening on Friday, February 11, 2011, beginning at 6:00 pm at its campus on in Westwood Hall at 1900 Bering Dr. More at http://www.emersonhouston.org/.