South news briefs: Lebanon Hills park hosts mountain bike festival

Tickets are on sale for OctoberZest, an annual fundraiser featuring "harvest cuisine from local restaurants" to benefit The Open Door food shelf.

The event for people 21 and older at Lost Spur Golf and Event Center, 2750 Sibley Memorial Hwy., will run from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Oct. 4. There will be samples from local restaurants, craft beer and a cash bar, raffles and opportunities to meet local farmers. Tickets are $25 per person.

The Open Door serves 5,500 to 6,000 people per month across the south metro through multiple food-shelf programs. For more information about OctoberZest, go to www.theopendoorpantry.org.

All Dakota County residents can drop off household hazardous waste for free from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3 at the Burnsville Maintenance Center, 13713 Frontier Court.

Accepted items include everything from aerosols and batteries to lawn mowers and power tools. Bicycles in any condition will be refurbished or disassembled for parts.

A certified shredding company will be at the event to shred copy and fax paper, mail, file folders and notes. Paper clips and staples are OK, but no carbon paper, laminated paper, tissue paper, books, magazines, rubber bands.

A driver's license is required. For a complete list of accepted items, go to www.dakotavalleyrecycling.org or call 952-895-4511.

An open house for people wanting to volunteer will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday at 360 Communities, 501 E. Hwy. 13, Suite 102, in Burnsville.

To sign up or get more information about Armful of Love or sponsoring a family, go to www.360communities.org.

Scott County's 2015 Career Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at the Event Center at Canterbury Park, 1100 Canterbury Rd., Shakopee. The event is free for those seeking jobs. Registration is not required.

Among the companies that will be at the job fair are Accurate Home Care, which is looking for nurses, personal care assistants and clinical managers; Amazon, which wants part-time entry-level fulfillment associates; and Arteka Companies, which wants seasonal full-time on-call snow removal help.

For an updated list of companies that will participate in the fair, go to www.mn.gov/deed/events/SCJF15. If you have questions or need more information, call Jody Pepinski at 952-703-3120.

More than 150 residents attended a public hearing on the plans at Tuesday's City Council meeting. While the majority wore red in support of the community center, about a dozen people spoke out against the project. Most dissenters wanted the proposal brought to voters in a referendum rather than decided by a council vote. Three referendums proposing community center updates have been voted down since 1999.

The project will cost owners of a $250,000 Shakopee home an additional $144 annually in property taxes.

The revamped community center will include a teen area, a senior center and a kids' indoor play space, along with gym space. Two new indoor pools will sit where the ice arena was previously, while a new adjacent structure will feature two sheets of ice.