As American poet and humorist Dixon Lanier Merritt wrote: “A wonderful bird is the pelican/His bill will hold more than his bellican.” You can check that out for yourself and have a grand day out at Saturday’s 28th Annual Pelican Island Wildlife Festival. The event will include live wildlife shows, arts and crafts, native plants for sale, historical reenactments, a boat tour to Pelican Island, educational presentations and more. The event is free. Boat tours cost $20 general and $10 children younger than 10 years and free for those younger than three years. The festival runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 7, at Riverview Park, which is at U.S. 1 and County Road 512, Sebastian. For more information, visit FirstRefuge.org.
Learn more about area artists and galleries at the monthly First Friday Gallery Stroll, running 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. this Friday, March 6, along 14th Avenue from 19th Street to 23rd Street. This will also be the lively setting for the public opening of “Realism at Home and Abroad: Watercolors by Frank Spino.” The reception serves up treats as well as gives you a chance to meet and greet the award-winning artist known so well for his vibrant watercolors of citrus. (Serious art collectors are invited to a more intimate opening 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 5.) That exhibit runs through March 27 at Gallery 14, 1911 14th Ave., Vero Beach. Call 772-562-5525 or visit Gallery14VeroBeach.com.
Celebrate women’s right to vote in “Hear My Voice,” a special commemoration of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The event brings historic film, recordings and more into performances by “Living Voices.” It begins 7 p.m. Monday, March 9, in the Richardson Center, which is in Building C, Room 105, on the campus of Indian River State College Mueller Campus, 6155 College Lane, Vero Beach. Call 772-226-2500 or visit IRSC.edu or LivingVoices.org.
There’s an embarrassment of musical riches this week. Saturday, the Treasure Coast Jazz Society presents the New Orleans Nighthawks for a lunchtime concert. Lunch begins 11:30 a.m. with the concert following at 12:30 p.m. at the Vero Beach Yacht Club, 3601 Rio Vista Blvd. The buffet lunch costs $20.88 and the concert costs $46.60, discounts available for TCJS members. Call 772-234-4600 or visit TCJazzSociety.com.
On Sunday afternoon, Marcel Dupre’s series of 14 meditative compositions, “Stations of the Cross,” will feature world famous Stephen Hamilton on the $1.3 million pipe organ in the Community Church of Vero Beach. This virtuoso organist is minister of music emeritus of the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City. He has played in major cathedrals throughout the world. The concert will also include narration of the poem “Le Chemin de la Croix,” by Paul Claudel. The concert begins 4 p.m. this Sunday, March 8, and is free (an offering will be accepted). Earlier, Hamilton also will lead a Church Music Workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Workshop registration is $10 and includes lunch. The Community Church of Vero Beach is at 1901 23rd Street, Vero Beach. Call 772-469-2306 or visit CCOVB.org.
“Back to Baroque” will feature music from the 17th and 18th centuries in concert Sunday afternoon. The program includes music by Bach, Handel, Telemann and Boismortier. Lance Lunceford, principal trombonist for the Penn Symphony Orchestra, and Jacob Craig, church director of music and arts, will perform. The concert begins 4 p.m. Sunday, March 8, at First Presbyterian Church, 520 Royal Palm Blvd., Vero Beach. Admission is free, but a $10 donation suggested. Call 772-562-9088 or visit FirstPresVero.org.
The original members may all be gone now, but the music of the Kingston Trio lives on in three musicians who have close musical ties to the founders. They come to the area to perform, striped shirts and all, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at the Emerson Center, 1590 27th Ave., Vero Beach. Tickets start at $30. Call 800-595-4849 or visit MusicWorksConcerts.com.
The Florida Humanities Series will present Richard Kaiser, U.S. Navy SEAL (Ret.), speaking on “Impactful Leadership.” Admission is free. His lecture begins 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 10 at the Emerson Center. Call 772-778-5249 or visit TheEmersonCenter.org.