Sustainable Cottage Grove and the Oregon Food Bank are holding a community event called FEAST (Food, Education, Agriculture, Solutions, Together) from 10 am to 4 pm Saturday, April 5, at the Cottage Grove Community Center, 700 E. Gibbs. The event focuses on promoting and supporting local food systems. Numerous panel discussions and speakers are planned for the free event, looking at “building a secure local food system so our local community can thrive no matter what the future brings.” Those participating are asked to bring a fresh food item that can be added to a “stone soup” and salad lunch. Call (503) 703-2198 or email Thornberry@oregonfoodbank.org.
Belly Restaurant at 30 E. Broadway is holding its inaugural “Astrologically Feasting” evening from 5 to 9 pm Sunday, April 6. The event, featuring a Cajun buffet and New Orleans cocktails, is a benefit for the WJ Skatepark + Urban Plaza being constructed under the Washington-Jefferson Bridge. Tickets are $36, $39 at the door and 30 percent of proceeds will go to the skatepark, which will open at 3 pm April 4 with a grand opening celebration June 21. Call 863-5896. Find updates on WJ Skatepark on Facebook, along with notes about other businesses such as Falling Sky, Hop Valley, Oakshire, Tactics, Ambrosia and Wandering Goat that are also fundraising.
Rabbit Games, Eugene’s newest independent game development studio (founded in August 2013), is a husband-and-wife team of Roger and Amy Billingslee, who are about to release their first game this week, Cafeteria Clash. In the game, “it’s your first day at your new school and it’s not what you were expecting,” says game designer Roger Billingslee. “Every day at lunch there are massive food fights, with the whole student body participating. Arm your friends with powerful foods so they can defend you, and keep your reign going for as long as possible!” He says Cafeteria Clash “mixes classic Tower Defense gameplay with TCG elements.” Find a demo of the free web-based game on Facebook at wkly.ws/1pw. The Billingslees earlier produced the Keep Battles game before forming Rabbit Games. Keep Battles was downloaded by more than 200,000 players on iOS and Android.
We went looking for John Tibbetts of Art’s Watch and Jewelry Repair at Fred Meyer on River Road, but he’s no longer there. He’s one of the few people around who can change batteries in Swiss Army watches and some other tricky timepieces. He’s moved to a nice new store this winter at the Village Plaza Market Place across from Kendall Honda on Goodpasture Island Road. Tibbetts has expanded his repair shop to offer watches and locally made jewelry. His phone number is 689-2481. Another, much larger shop that does difficult watch battery replacements and repairs is the Clockmaker’s Gallery at 987 Garfield, just off West 11th. Phone number is 687-0192, clockmakersgallery.com.
Global Delights is expanding and changing its name to Arabella, named after Arabella Drummond, the infamous female pirate of the 1700s. Global Delights is a local coffee-roasting company that currently has a drive-up coffee shop at 1038 River Road and hopes to open a café soon along with a mobile kiosk in a VW bus. Call 689-2518.
The Lane County Cultural Coalition is looking to fill three committee positions, representing the districts of West Lane County, North Eugene and East Lane County. The committee evaluates grant applications for Oregon Cultural Trust funds. Applications are due April 15. Email kuri.gill@oregon.gov or call (503) 986-0685.
South Eugene Robotics Team and its two alliance members “overcame all odds, wrangling home the second place trophy for the first time in history in FIRST’s FRC Robotics Competition 2014,” according to team member Sophia Dossin. The Wilsonville, Ore., event March 21-22 featured competition from all over the Pacific Northwest. The team will be competing again April 4-5 at Gil Coliseum on the OSU campus. See wert2521.com.