Azalea season is peaking across the Gulf Coast, and the first full week of March brings art festivals, history lectures, a Mardi Gras litter cleanup and free health screenings. Here’s what’s happening around Mobile and Baldwin County March 6-12, 2019.
Festivals and seasonal highlights
The OBA Festival of Art takes over Orange Beach March 9-10 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with more than 100 artists, live art demos, music and food trucks. Admission is free, with $5 all-day shuttle parking at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.
Bellingrath Gardens’ Azalea Bloom Out runs through the month, with some 250,000 azaleas blooming across the 65-acre estate daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the gardens post regular updates on its Azalea Watch page.
History and learning
Baldwin County Genealogical Society hosts avocation archaeologist Harry A. King on “Preserving the Indian Trade Canal” Saturday at 10 a.m. at Foley Public Library, free to the public. Fairhope Public Library continues its local history series Thursday at 6 p.m. with Zach Sierke’s “The Story of Clay in Fairhope,” and the Fairhope Museum of History’s Thursday tea features longtime Dogwood Trail director Jo Ann Broadus.
Author and photographer Glenn Wills presents his documentation of Alabama’s disappearing places Tuesday, March 12, at Moorer/Spring Hill Library, and Spring Hill College’s Christus Lecture Series welcomes Rev. Dr. Kara N. Slade for two talks March 14-15 at Byrne Memorial Hall.
Mobile’s Ben May Main Library is hosting a retrospective of original Maurice Sendak works — the artist behind “Where the Wild Things Are” — through March 25, and USA’s Laidlaw Performing Arts Center offers a free concert by singer-songwriter and novelist Josh Ritter on Thursday night.
“Parading through Time,” the History Museum of Mobile’s four-century tour of Carnival traditions, remains open through April 20.
Health and community
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s South Eastern Regional Conference mobile mammography unit offers free breast cancer screenings Saturday starting at 8 a.m. at the Arthur J. Outlaw Convention Center; scheduling is available online or by phone.
USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital holds a free family baby expo Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., with hospital tours, exhibitors and door prizes, and the U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting temporary part-time workers for the 2020 count across southwest Alabama at an average of $17 per hour.
Hats & Heels Inc.’s lupus support group meets the third Saturday at Providence Hospital, and the Heart & Soul Book Club gathers the fourth Saturday at Mobile West Regional Library.
Arts, food and fun
Bragg-Mitchell Mansion hosts two events: a “Little Mermaid” tea with Mobile Ballet dancers Saturday ($12, limited seating) and a spring tea Friday, March 15, benefiting restoration of the 1855 mansion. Members of Mobile Opera’s “Il Tabarro” cast perform selections Sunday at Ben May Main Library.
The Funky Monkey 5K and Fun Run runs Saturday at 8 a.m. at USA’s Mitternight-area bell tower — with Mobile’s biggest banana split waiting at the finish line — and Touch a Truck returns to Hank Aaron Stadium on March 16 ($20 per car), supporting pediatric cancer research at USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute and Adoption Rocks.
Gulf Coast Classic youth baseball and softball tournaments play March 11-28 at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex, Baldwin Bone & Joint’s “Many More Miles” shoe drive continues through March 23, and Mobile Baykeeper leads a post-Mardi Gras cleanup of One Mile Creek on Saturday morning to clear holiday litter from local waterways.