West news briefs: Art Crawl Through the Gardens set at Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

The natural beauty of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is about to become a backdrop for enjoying a variety of local artwork and crafts.

The arboretum's Art Crawl through the Gardens returns Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 15-16, with a diverse collection of artwork by more than 55 local artists and crafters, displayed along the Arboretum's Three-Mile Drive. Art Crawl hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.

The event will feature works that span everything from photography and paintings to pottery, glass art and hand-dyed hammocks.

On Saturday, multimedia artist Shawn McCann will create a chalk artscape on the Dahlberg Terrace just outside the Visitor Center.

For more information, go to arboretum.umn.edu/artcrawl.aspx.

Heavy super stock, four-wheel drive vehicles and semitrailer trucks will be among the featured vehicles at the Corcoran Lions Club's tractor pull at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Corcoran Lions Park.

Admission is $15 for folks 12 and up, $5 for kids aged 4 to 11, and free for kids under 4.

The Star Legacy Foundation will host its third annual 5K event next month.

The Let's Not Be Still Run/Walk for Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness will be held Sept. 26 at Staring Lake Park, 14800 Pioneer Trail in Eden Prairie. Money raised will benefit the foundation, established in 2005 to raise awareness and support research, education, and prevention initiatives.

For a full schedule and more details, go to starlegacyfoundation.org.

The public is invited to attend a presentation by Building for America's Bravest to honor the Color Center Carpet One in Excelsior on Aug. 12.

The event will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. at 701 W. Hwy. 7. The business will be presented with a steel remnant from the World Trade Center wreckage in appreciation for Carpet One's support of BFAB. The store will donate 3 percent of all product purchases during the month of August to Building for America's Bravest.

Judy Hanson, a longtime resident and assistant city attorney for St. Paul, was officially sworn in to office Aug. 3.

After Council Member LeAnn Sargent stepped down, the city received 19 applications for her spot and narrowed it to six finalists. All six candidates were interviewed by the City Council, who unanimously picked Hanson. Sargent, who was on the five-member council since 1991, retired in April, citing health reasons.

She was sentenced last year to a gross misdemeanor for exploiting her dying father, cheating him out of $100,000, but the state Court of Appeals later ruled that the sentence was unjustifiably lenient. She was resentenced in June to a felony, which disqualifies her for public office.

Hanson now will finish Sargent's term, which ends Dec. 31, 2016, and pays $13,000 a year.

The public is invited to a free Town Hall forum called "Why Is It Hard to Talk about Race? Understanding the Keys to Starting a Community Conversation" from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, at Gethsemane Lutheran Church, 715 Minnetonka Mills Road, Hopkins.

For more information, call 952-935-1753 or go to www.glconline.org.

Interfaith Outreach & Community Partners will hold its annual Back-to-School donation drive through Aug. 21.

The drive, which started Aug. 1, takes place at 1605 County Road 101 N. in Plymouth. Donations of school supplies will be accepted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, with extended hours on Wednesday until 8 p.m. Last year, donations were distributed to nearly 60 schools in four different districts and cashed in at a total value of $55,000. This year's goal is to give supplies to 750 kids.

Most-needed supplies include backpacks, scientific and graphing calculators, wide/college rule spirals, pocket folders, composition notebooks, three-ring binders, dry-erase markers and glue sticks.

For more information or a donation list, go to iocp.org/back-to-school.

Volunteers will restore prairie by collecting native wildflower seeds. Volunteers increase the amount and diversity of seed planted annually in more than 1,200 acres of restored prairie managed by Three Rivers Park District.

The program also provides an opportunity to learn about the prairie's rich history and how to identify many of the plants there.

This program, which is free, is for ages 12 and older. Those under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Groups are welcome to attend, but they must include at least one adult per eight young people.

A permission form is needed for participation by minors. To register, call 763-559-6706. All seed collectors should check the hot line (763-694-7849) on the day of the collection for any last-minute changes or cancellations.

All are invited to bring pets of any kind (on leashes or restraints). For more information, call the church office at 952-929-8566.