• Food, wine and live entertainment will be in abundance at the Riverside Wine Festival and Five Points Fall Fest on Saturday. This is not the area’s first foray into fall festivities. The sixth annual event will take place from 6-9 p.m. Booths will be set up along the streets of Five Points and stores will be open extended hours for the event.
• Susan Pelter, the City’s chief of public information, has resigned and will leave the City next month to start her own business as a writer and public relations consultant. No word on who will replace her.
• November is a big month for Bethel Baptist Institutional Church. The church is celebrating 170 years in the ministry in Jacksonville.
• Community Hospice of Northeast Florida’s fourth annual “Halloween Doors & More” raised over $440,000 for its children’s program Community PedsCare. The program is aimed at helping with pediatric hospice care and reducing the severity of disease symptoms in children who suffer from life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.
• New and atypical menu item for Burrito Gallery patrons: Tomato Bisque soup. The reason? The colder weather has led to a demand, said one employee.
• SchenkelShultz Architecture of Jacksonville won the 2008 American Institute of Architects’ Unbuilt Honor Award for its design of the Early Childhood Development building at Edison State College in Naples, Fla. The college’s first LEED-certified facility, the $3.4 million 10,000 square foot building will serve over 100 children ranging from infancy to four years in age.
• Correction about Little Black Bag Medical’s oldest patient: the oldest patient is actually 98-years-old. Also Drs. Stephens don’t necessarily have privileges at Mayo; they can facilitate an admission into Mayo but work at St. Luke’s, Memorial and Brooks hospitals.
• The board of governors of the Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Florida is close to choosing a new president, according to board chair Roger Mullins. Four candidates remain in the running, with two being local, to take over for interim president Ron Osborne. His predecessor, Debbie Verges, left as president after six years and was recently hired as project director for the Jacksonville Journey. Mullins said they hope to make a selection within the next couple of weeks.
• St. Vincent’s HealthCare, the Jacksonville Transportation Group and Urban Jacksonville, Inc. are partnering up to provide needy individuals of the Meals on Wheels program a Thanksgiving meal next week. St. Vincent’s will begin preparing the multifaceted meals Monday, which will then be delivered by an anticipated 80–90 Transportation Group taxis Thanksgiving morning.