Whitehall-Coplay Press

As St. Patrick's Day quickly approaches, we turn our thoughts to leprechauns, green clovers, pots of gold, parades, and Irish folk dancing.

We also think about the people of Irish heritage who emigrated to the United States at the turn of the century in search of a new, and better, life. The American Dream was alive and thriving, and viewed as that glorious pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Q. I'm a baby-sitting grandparent. I think I'm getting more colds because of it. Am I right or is this my imagination?

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases reports that schoolchildren get as many as 12 colds a year. Put those children near their grandparents and it doesn't take a scientist to know that those colds are going to spread.

My personal physician, who is also a grandfather, says that one of the problems is that these walking petri dishes come home from school with new germs for which older people haven't developed antibodies.

In celebration of its 30th anniversary, the DeSales University Dance Department is presenting a series of performances, 11 a.m., 8 p.m. March 15 and 3 p.m. March 17, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, on the campus in Center Valley.

The annual dance ensemble concert features world premier dances created by alumni from the program and performed by dance majors, as well as a senior dance major piece choreographed by a guest artist.

"A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer," 7 p.m. March 15, 16; 4 p.m. March 16, 17, Banana Factory, 25 W. 3rd St., Bethlehem. 620-390-4324

"Born Yesterday," through March 24, 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday, Crowded Kitchen Players, McCoole's Arts and Events Place, 10 S. Main St., Quakertown. ckplayers.com, 610-395-7176

The Crowded Kitchen Players hold auditions for "The Cocoanuts," a musical comedy written by George S. Kaufman and Irving Berlin for The Marx Brothers, 7 - 8:30 p.m. March 13, McCoole's Arts & Events Place, 10 S. Main St., Quakertown.

"The Cocoanuts" runs June 7 - 23, McCoole's Arts & Events Place.

Information: 610-395-7176

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In honor of Musikfest's 30th year, the 2013 festival will feature special events and activities.

John Gorka returns: In August 1984, a young folksinger named John Gorka played the very first notes at the very first Musikfest. This year the renowned artist is back at the festival to perform at its opening ceremonies, 6 p.m. Aug. 2, Aetna Americaplatz, Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks. Gorka takes the stage later in the evening for a free concert at one of the festival's other stages.

The energy and fun of the nation's largest free music festival is highlighted in the Musikfest 2013 poster and new festival logo unveiled by ArtsQuest.

The new logo and poster mark the start of the 30-year celebration for the Bethlehem-based event, which attracts up to one million people to the city each August. The 2013 Musikfest dates are Aug. 2 - 11, with more than 300 artists anticipated to perform on 14 different stages throughout the city during the event's 10-day run.

A free informational session on adoption and child foster care is 6 p.m. March 21, Diakon Adoption & Foster Care, The Lutheran Home at Topton, One S. Home Avenue, Topton.

Diakon Adoption & Foster Care staff will explain foster parenting, the processes involved in adopting a child, talk about children available for adoption, and the foster-to-adopt program.

To attend: call 888-582-2230 or 610-682-1504.

Submissions are now being accepted for the eighth annual award-winning Student Poetry Project.

In celebration of National Poetry Month in April, three poems will be selected in each of the Elementary, Middle School and High School categories and published in the April 24 and 25 Focus section in the Lehigh Valley Press newspapers.

The student whose poem is selected as the best poem in each category may have his or her photo published with the selected poem.

The first offering of tickets to members of the campus community (students, faculty, staff, and retirees) for the Lives of Liberty Lecture for 2012 - '13 by Tony Blair, former prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 4 p.m. April 8, Lafayette College, Easton, is sold-out.

However, the college is streaming a live telecast of Blair's address in Colton Chapel. No tickets are required for the Colton Chapel venue.