• This month’s Art Walk theme is “The Love of Art.” The self-guided Downtown art tour will be Wednesday from 5 to 9 p.m. and will feature belly dancers, live bands, a drum circle, martial artists, acrobatics, break dancing and more.
• While bottled water has replaced the water cooler in many offices, the main topic of non-work-related conversation today will be the Super Bowl – and the commercials that aired during the game. St. John & Partners Advertising & Public Relations has posted a Web site, www.armchair-ad-review.com, where the public can watch the spots and vote on their favorite commercial. Voting began an hour before kickoff and will continue until Friday when the final results will be announced.
• Lots of new faces at One Independent Square: Regency Centers is moving so many of its staff members into One Independent Square this week that it took three days to make a security badge for each employee.
• You get a free cookbook and Lutheran Social Services Second Harvest Food Bank gets a buck: The Barilla pasta company has created a celebrity-recipe cookbook that you can download for free. For every person who downloads the book, Barilla will donate $1 to the food bank until they reach $100,000. Visit www.celebritypastalovers.com any time during February to participate.
• The American Red Cross is recognizing Black History Month by encouraging more African Americans to donate blood on a regular basis. Minority blood donors have the ability to help patients with special needs. Many African Americans have rare blood types such as U-negative and Duffy-negative. For more information or to make an appointment to donate, call 1-800-448-3543.
• In honor of his 23 years of service as pastor, Dr. Jerry Vines was named First Baptist Church Jacksonville’s Pastor Emeritus Sunday night during the 21st Pastors’ Conference held at the church. The conference brought 2,000 registered guests to Jacksonville and will conclude with a grand finale service tonight at 7 p.m. Visitor parking is available in garage two and can be accessed from the Laura Street entrance.
• Members of the Florida Senate and House of Representatives will conduct a joint town hall meeting Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. in the auditorium of Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s Downtown campus. The topic is property tax reform, and City Council members have been invited to participate.
• Longtime mayor’s office receptionist Alice Newman is back at work. She recently had emergency gall bladder surgery and was out about three weeks.
• The Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) is sponsoring an essay contest for high school seniors with prizes worth up to $10,000. Those interested must submit a 500-word or less essay on “How Does a Realtor Professional Benefit the Community?” The deadline is March 2. Entries should be submitted to the Orlando FAR office. FAR is offering a total of $106,000 in scholarship funding this year.