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Notebook: Documentary to debut on independent businesses

DOWNTOWN - Unchain Your Independent Side, a documentary chronicling a two-month odyssey by journalists exploring the successes and challenges of independent businesses around the nation, debuts at 6:30 tonight at Mise en Place, 442 W Kennedy Blvd.

The Tampa Independent Business Alliance hosts the event featuring guest speaker Jeff Milchen, who was interviewed in the film.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Call 254-5373.

DOWNTOWN - Members of the Unsinkable Krewe of Molly Brown will hold their second annual Molly Musical Revue at 7 p.m. today at Blake High School, 1701 N Boulevard.

The free revue will feature music by Lounge Nouveau, a group of music teachers in Hillsborough County public schools who volunteer for the event.

Awards for student winners of the 2005 Unsinkable Molly Brown Foundation Grant and Scholarships will be presented. For information about the event, call 920-1981.

YBOR CITY - Tampa Bay's Krewes Kare hosts a collection of items for Hurricane Wilma victims from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday in the rear parking lot of Columbia Restaurant, 2117 E Seventh Ave.

Angel Flight Southeast will fly donated goods to areas still needing help in South Florida. Requested items include canned goods, bread, bottled water, bath soap, bleach, paper towels and bedding.

For information, call 839-1302, ext. 629.

YBOR CITY - Learn what helped shape Tampa's immigrant community when the International Bazaar at Centro Ybor hosts Welcome Back the Cigar Industry at 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday at 1600 E Eighth Ave.

The free workshops will explore the history of Ybor's newspapers and events that shaped the community. Ybor City's official cigar-rolling school will hold its grand opening, and attendees will receive a free cigar-rolling lesson.

Free cigars will go to the first 100 guests at each workshop.

For information, call 241-8292.

HISTORIC HYDE PARK - Hyde Park kicks off the holiday season with the annual enchanted tree lighting ceremony from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 25 at Old Hyde Park Village.

Debra Schrils of WFLA-Ch. 8's Daytime program and Ann Kelly of WWRM FM-94.9 will host the ceremony.

The event will include a reading of The Night Before Christmas, a musical program by the Florida Arts School and a concert by the Valerie Gillespie Quartet. Santa Claus will light the 30-foot tree in the main fountain area.

Carriage rides through the historic neighborhood will be offered from 5 to 9 p.m. for $5. For information, call 254-6210.

DOWNTOWN - Former Hillsborough County commissioners Jan K. Platt and Pat Frank were honored for their years of service with an artwork dedication ceremony Nov. 10.

A piece titled Strips Flew Out, Calling the Spirit Back by Deborah Maria Rodriguez was dedicated to Frank and will be on display at the county center.

A reproduction of artist Lenn Neff's piece Glass, Wood Commission will be dedicated to Platt. The original piece is on permanent display at the Jan K. Platt Library.

DAVIS ISLANDS - Tampa General Hospital has received a $20,000 donation from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and a matching donation of $15,000 from Tampa Electric.

The IBEW money resulted from the union's annual golf tournament and went to the hospital's Building on Excellence campaign. TECO funds went to the Tampa Bay Regional Burn Center at Tampa General.

Tampa General is the area's only level one trauma center and the only burn center in the state that has earned verification by the American Burn Association/American College of Surgeons. Only 41 of the country's 129 burn centers have received that distinction.

DOWNTOWN - The Florida Genealogical Society hosts its monthly meeting at noon Saturday in the auditorium of the John F. Germany Library, 900 N Ashley Drive.

The program will feature guest speaker Angelo Spoto, who will present a program on the history of the Spoto family in Ybor City and Santo Stefano Quisquina.

For information, call 920-0619.