Tomorrow’s Downtown Friday Street Party, hosted by Main Street Vero Beach, will play host to supporters of SafeSpace, as hairy legged men, joined by women and children helping to hold them upright, don bright-red 4-inch stilettos for Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, a call to action to raise awareness and funds to assist victims of domestic violence. SafeSpace, which has the only emergency shelter in Indian River County for victims and their children, also offers a crisis hotline and an extensive array of other programs and services to help survivors thrive on their own in violence-free lives. Registration starts 5 p.m., opening ceremony is 5:45 p.m. and the walk is 6 p.m. Signup at SafeSpaceFL.org.
Afterwards, kick off those heels and dance in the streets to the music of Vintage Radio, a band that moved to the Treasure Coast in 2021 following a 15-year stint in Memphis. Make sure to also stop by the MSVB Gallery for a last chance to see the September exhibit of works by artists of Treasure Coast Plein Air. There are 10 artists in the show, out of some 40-plus in the group, who meet each Thursday to paint local scenes en plein air, aka in the great outdoors. The show switches in October to feature a new collection of Treasure Coast scenes by Russian-born artist Vera Titova, who was also showcased this spring.
The Vero Beach Theatre Guild’s month-long Tennessee Williams-focused 10 X Tenn Theatre Festival will reach its conclusion on Saturday Oct. 1 with a Booze & Blues at Moon Lake Casino-themed Cabaret Gala, starting at 6 p.m. The Crescent City Crawdads Jazz Trio featuring the multi-talented Jacob Craig on keyboard and VBTG stage veterans Beth McKenzie-Shestak and Gregory and Caitlan Harris will provide the entertainment with New Orleans jazz and blues for your listening pleasure and dancing. Tim Shestak, sommelier at the Moorings Yacht and Country Club, will serve up Southern-style bourbon tastings and mixed drinks, and there will be a food truck with southern and Cajun specialties. Tickets are $40 and are available at VeroBeachTheatreGuild.com or 772-562-8300.
Another talented group of local musicians will delight audiences at French & Fabulous, the opening performance of the Community Church of Vero Beach Concert Series. The concert, which begins at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4 in Grace Chapel, features piano duets and operatic arias performed by Andrew R. Galuska, the church’s director of music and fine arts, Jill A. Truax, associate director of music, and Rachel Carter Murphy, soprano in residence. The program includes piano works by French composers Erik Satie, Cecile Chaminade and Florent Schmitt, and operatic favorites by Charles Gounod and George Massenet. Tickets are $10 in advance or at the door. Tickets for the full 2022-2023 season are available at ccovb.org or by calling 772-778-1070.
The expression ‘It’s for the birds’ takes on new meaning at the eighth annual Indian River Bird & Nature Art Show, sponsored by the Pelican Island Conservation Society. The juried Art Show, displayed at the Environmental Learning Center, begins at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 with a free Artists’ Reception, followed by a presentation at 7 p.m. by County Historian Ruth Stanbridge on the history of Jungle Trail, today known officially as Indian River County’s Jungle Trail Greenway. The art show can be viewed during normal ELC business hours through Oct. 29; regular admission rates apply. There are also Pelican Island Sunset Wine and Cheese Cruises on Oct. 8, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22 on the ELC pontoon boat, crewed by their captain and Master Naturalist, to observe pelicans and other birds as they return to their evening roost on Pelican Island. Reservations are $70 per person and are required. The month-long event, which has the Environmental Learning Center as its home base, is an expansion of National Wildlife Refuge Week, held the second week of October. Entries in the show highlight the beauty of our surroundings, particularly our own Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, along with the birds and other creatures that call Indian River County home. PINWR was the first National Wildlife Refuge in the nation, which today includes some 568 national wildlife refuges, providing sanctuary to wildlife and marine animals on 95 million acres of land and 760 million acres of submerged lands and waters. For more information about other activities or to make reservations, visit FirstRefuge.org or DiscoverELC.org, or call 772-589-5050.