Catch Your Breath ice skating exhibition at the South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena on Sept. 25 from 7-9pm.

It is free.

For more information, go here www.tahoefigureskatingclub.com.

Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Fest at Lake Tahoe Airpot on Oct. 2 is from 10am-3pm.

The annual event is sponsored by Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe.

Fire Fest is an annual event that highlights Fire Prevention Week while celebrating fire and life safety for children and families. Helicopters will star at Fire Fest as they land at Lake Tahoe Airport.

Sit in a fire truck, experience a wildfire, escape from the Smoke House, wear fire fighting equipment, squirt fire hoses, play in a bounce house, meet Smokey Bear, Sparky and Rescue Dogs, watch fire departments compete, learn about fire resistant construction, and enjoy a Kiwanis barbecue.

For more information contact Jeanne Lear (530) 542.8366.

South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center 11th Annual Sunset Gala by the Lake fundraiser is Sept. 25 from 5-8pm in Zephyr Cove.

There will be fine wines, hors d’oeuvres, desserts, classical guitar, and a silent auction.

Each year South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center serves more than 2,000 victims of abuse in our community. In 2009, the Women’s Center faced more than $200,000 in reductions in state funding for programs, and with no state budget signed for the current fiscal year, it is unclear if the agency experience the same reduction.

Purchase tickets online for $50 each or stop by 2941 Lake Tahoe Blvd.

Tomorrow’s prosperity is only possible by understanding and responding to those factors that contribute to poverty today. An increasing number of decision-makers and community leaders recognize that the pathway to prosperity is dependent on all sectors of the community working together.

South Lake Tahoe Poverty to Prosperity Forum 2010 is a day to provide that opportunity through awareness, education, linkage, and action.

Join business leaders, education boards and administrations, government officials, nonprofit directors and community decision-makers as we continue the strategic discussion that will define the critical linkages needed to move our South Lake Tahoe community from poverty to prosperity.

The gathering is Oct. 8 from 9am-4pm at Embassy Suites, 4130 Lake Tahoe Blvd., South Lake Tahoe.

Lunch will provided.

RSVP by Oct. 1 to Lori Blackburn at (530) 295.2403 or lblackburn@edcoe.org or go online www.eldoradocapc.org

Sponsors are Child Abuse Prevention Council of El Dorado County, El Dorado Community Foundation, El Dorado Office of Education, First 5 El Dorado, Lake Tahoe Gaming Alliance, South Lake Tahoe Area Fund at the El Dorado Community Foundation, and Tahoe Youth & Family Services.

Jewel of the Sierra Belly Dance Competition is Sept. 18 from 11am-10pm.

Participants will compete in five categories: Sapphire (Non-Professional), Ruby (Groups), Emerald (Live Music), Crystal (fusion of different dance and music), and Diamond (Professional).

The judges will be scoring each competitor based on appearance, musical interpretation, technique, use of stage, presentation, entertainment value, and personality.

The event is at Lake Tahoe Community College’s Duke Theatre, One College Drive, South Lake Tahoe.

For more information, call (530) 541.4660, ext. 207.

The entrance fee for the Jewel of the Sierra competition show is $15.

On Sept. 25, Truckee Tahoe will host its Third Annual Walk for Farm Animals, an event taking place in more than 75 cities across the United States and Canada to promote compassion for factory farmed animals and raise vital funds to support the lifesaving rescue, education and advocacy work of Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization.

This year’s national salk spokesperson is celebrity trainer and television personality Bob Harper from NBC’s hit show “The Biggest Loser.”

“Animals raised for food in the U.S. spend their entire lives in filth and darkness, kept in such severe confinement they cannot turn around, lie down or extend their limbs,” Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, said in a press release. “No one likes cruelty and when people learn about the abusive conditions inside factory farms, they are appalled and a growing number are getting active to raise awareness about these intolerable cruelties and put an end to the unnecessary suffering. For nearly 25 years, Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals has provided a forum for people from all walks of life to spread a powerful message of compassion for farm animals in their own cities and hometowns. The exponential growth of the Walks is a very positive sign. This year, we are thrilled to have Bob Harper’s support as our national spokesperson for the 2010 Walk for Farm Animals. Bob is as passionate about animal protection as he is about health and fitness, and with his support, the biggest winners this year will be farm animals.”

The Truckee Tahoe Walk for Farm Animals starts at Plumas Bank in Truckee. Registration is at 9am Sept. 25, and the walk begins at 10am. Those interested in registering for the 2010 Walk can learn more at walkforfarmanimals.org. Participants will receive a special limited-edition 2010 Walk t-shirt designed by vegan fashion house Vaute Couture, and special prizes will be awarded to walkers who reach fund-raising milestones.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the “food animal” industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts.

On Sept. 25 at 2pm share in locally-raised, seasonal foods as Moody’s Bistro Executive Chef Mark Estee and Chef de Cuisine Guy Frenette roast a Berkshire hog raised in pasture at the small, sustainable Shaw Family Farms in Truckee during Roast on the Range.

· Proceeds from this event will benefit Girls on the Run – Sierra, a life-changing, nonprofit prevention program for girls in grades 3-8. Their mission is to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living.

· Tickets are $100/person, and include a dinner prepared by Estee and Frenette, wine, live music, and tours of this local farm. A free butcher demonstration will be that Saturday from 9-10:30am on the back patio of Moody’s Bistro.

· For tickets, email jbossin@gmail.com or call (530) 587.1690

· Roast on the Range witll take place at the Shaw Family Farms, located at 12654 Samuel Drive in Truckee. The butcher demonstration will take place at Moody’s Bistro, 10007 Bridge St. in Truckee.

Come see what Saturday Mornings at SNC (formerly Senior Saturdays), the award-winning joint offering of Sierra Nevada College and Incline Village Parks & Recreation Senior Programs, are all about. Share your morning coffee with SNC’s faculty and other knowledgeable locals as they present bite-size offerings of intellectually stimulating material. An optional continental breakfast will be provided for $3.

Date: Sept. 18

Event: Monotype Demonstration

Come to the printmaking studio (3rd floor, David Hall) and watch Mary Kenny (Sierra Nevada College associate professor, Fine Arts Department) create color rich prints. This demonstration will introduce the basic methods and materials of monotype printmaking. Topics covered by the demonstration will include stencils, chine colle (collage using a press), and multiple drop printing. Monotype is a versatile printmaking medium that can accommodate a wide range of approaches.

Kenny is an artist printmaker living in Truckee and teaching at Sierra Nevada College. She has participated in numerous shows regionally and nationally, most recently at Riverside Studio and Western Nevada Community College. Her prints reside in collections at Kent State University, Iowa State University, and Zygote Press, among others.

Time: 10am–noon

Where: Prim Library, Sierra Nevada College, 999 Tahoe Blvd., Incline Village

Fee: $3 optional continental breakfast

For details on course offerings, click here or call (775) 832.1310.

Arlen Huggins will discuss cloud seeding to enhance snowfall at Sierra Nevada College on Oct. 20.

Cloud seeding has been conducted in the Sierra Nevada since the 1950s and in the Lake Tahoe area since the 1960s. As a form of weather modification, wintertime cloud seeding is aimed at enhancing snowfall in mountainous regions to increase the snowpack, resulting in more spring runoff and water supplies to the surrounding areas.

Cloud seeding research is still being conducted, but the scientific basis for wintertime cloud seeding evolved mainly from detailed investigations of clouds and their response to various seeding materials in the 1980s and 1990s. Significant results from several of these research efforts will be presented to explain how the conceptual model for seeding winter storms came about, and how it is being applied today in areas like the Tahoe basin.

DRI scientists have played a major role in cloud seeding research and a specific DRI evaluation method using ultra trace chemical analysis of snow samples continues to be applied in ongoing research and operational seeding projects. Some examples of this unique evaluation method will also be presented.

Huggins, with the Desert Research Institute, has an active interest in applied research in summer convective storms and wintertime storms. He has studied the evolution of winter storms over mountainous terrain, including field projects in the Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada, the Wasatch Mountains of Utah and the Victorian Alps and Snowy Mountains of Australia. As a researcher Huggins has studied the physical effects of both airborne and ground-based cloud seeding on winter storm clouds, and produced several publications documenting the effects of seeding from cloud to ground. He manages the Cloud Seeding Program at DRI, which is designed to augment snowfall in selected mountainous regions of Nevada, California and Colorado.

Date: Oct. 20

Time: 5:30pm no-host bar/door opens; 6pm program

Cost: $5. Students free.

Location: Assembly Rooms 139 & 141 Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences, 291 Country Club Drive, Incline Village, on the campus of Sierra Nevada College.

In partnership with Sierra College, Dragonfly sushi chef Kris Phaivanh and chef and owner Billy McCullough will present a sushi making class at the Truckee restaurant on Sept. 18 from noon to 2pm.

Veteran sushi chef Phaivanh will lead the class, sharing his knowledge on the intricacies of sushi and sashimi creation. He will demonstrate traditional shaping and cutting methods, as well as providing modern twists on making sushi.

A strong supporter of the Slow Food movement, McCullough will discuss the importance of utilizing sustainable fish in the creation of sushi.

Cost is $32 for the class plus $25 for the materials. The maximum number of people allowed is 25.

Dragonfly Restaurant and Sushi Bar is located upstairs at 10118 Donner Pass Road, Truckee — (530) 587.0557.