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Briefs: Leadership breakfast for small business owners

CARVER CITY/LINCOLN GARDENS - The Urban Florida League of Business monthly leadership breakfast for small business owners is at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Doubletree Hotel, 4500 W Cypress St.

The event, featuring guest speaker Charles A. Thigpen of Ohio, will be based on the theme "A Blueprint for Success in Business."

Tickets are $20 in advance, and seating is limited. No tickets will be sold at the door. Call 931-5546 or 989-7844.

HYDE PARK NORTH - Mayor Pam Iorio and the Tampa City Council invite residents to the opening ceremony of AIDS Memorial Park at 6 p.m. Monday at Bayshore Boulevard and Hyde Park Place.

The 1-acre park, originally planned for 1998, honors those who have died from AIDS. The developer of the One Bayshore condominium tower next door built the park and will maintain it.

YBOR CITY - The Patients of a Saint, a documentary detailing almost 25 years of patient care in Peru by Dr. Anthony Lazzara Jr., premieres at 4 p.m. Saturday at Muvico Centro Ybor.

Tickets for the fundraiser are $100 and include dinner after the screening at the Italian Club. All funds will benefit Lazzara's Villa La Paz medical center in Peru. For tickets, call 1-800-985-2729..

OLD SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - The Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association first Great Neighborhood Yard Sale is from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

More than 70 homes in Old Seminole Heights will participate. Visitors can buy yard sale maps for $1 at the Seminole Heights Garden Center, 5801 N Central Ave. Call 231-9102.

DOWNTOWN - The Tampa Club invites young professionals to an Under 40 Cocktail Mixer from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at 101 E Kennedy Blvd., Suite 4200.

The mixer is an opportunity for young professionals to network and learn about the Tampa Club. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres will be served; parking is free. Attire is business casual. For reservations, call 229-6028, ext. 307.

OLD HYDE PARK - The Tampa Gallery of Photographic Arts highlights the life and work of Charles "Teenie" Harris with a documentary film screening at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 1627 W Snow Ave. in Old Hyde Park Village.

Harris, a Pittsburgh photographer in the 1930s and '40s, captured the heart and soul of the Hill District, a thriving African-American community. The documentary blends Harris' images of the city with narration by actor Roscoe Lee Browne.

Admission to the screening is free. The photographer's work will be displayed through Jan. 8. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 251-1800.

DOWNTOWN - The University of Tampa's Writers at the University series features memoirist Catherine McKinley at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Reeves Theater of UT's Vaughn Center, 200 N Edison Ave.

McKinley will read from The Book of Sarahs, which details her experience growing up in a small New England town as one of fewer than 10,000 black children adopted by white families in the 1960s and '70s and her subsequent search for her birth family.

Admission to the series is free. Call 253-6216.

DOWNTOWN - The first Marine Corps Birthday Ball kicks off at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at American Legion Hall Post 5, 3810 W Kennedy Blvd.

Hosted by the Tampa Area Marine Parents Association, the ball will feature retired Sgt. Maj. Juan Carranza as the guest speaker. Organizers plan on making the ball an annual event.

For information, call 238-5006.

SOUTH TAMPA - View original artwork and meet artists Wil Dawson and Martin F. Hennigan during a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the Gold Dragon Gallery, 3508 S Manhattan Ave.

Dawson, a computer artist, uses vivid colors and has received awards for his style of incorporating European culture in his work.

Hennigan, a self-taught artist, combines traditional stories, life lessons and fantasies with abstract settings. He uses natural colors, in oils and pastels, to evoke different moods.

For information on the reception and other events, call 832-2755.

HISTORIC HYDE PARK - The Downtown Republican Women Federated of Tampa will host its monthly luncheon at noon Wednesday at 717 South on Howard Avenue.

State District 56 Rep. Trey Traviesa will be the guest speaker. All registered Republicans are invited to attend. For reservations, call Krista Soroka 342-4058.

DOWNTOWN - The city of Tampa hosts the second community meeting for the Tampa Riverwalk Project from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Maestro's Restaurant in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

The Tampa Riverwalk project is a multipurpose pathway linking recreational, entertainment, commercial and cultural uses along 21/2 miles of the Garrison Channel and Hillsborough River.

The city hired the design firm of EDAW earlier this year to develop a master plan for the project. The firm will collect feedback from residents at the meeting to help shape the final design concept. Call 274-7439.