Around Town: Segerstrom Center to host Lantern Festival

The Pacific Symphony and the South Coast Chinese Cultural Center/Irvine Chinese School will present a free Lantern Festival on Saturday at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa to mark the end of the Lunar New Year celebration.

The festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, with music and dance performances in the theater, activities in the lobby and interactive demonstrations on the outdoor Julianne and George Argyros Plaza.

Entry is first-come, first-served; tickets must be reserved through pacificsymphony.org or with the box office at (714) 755-5799.

Free Fishing Derby set for Fountain Valley

The annual OC Parks Kids’ Fishing Derby is scheduled for Saturday at Mile Square Regional Park, 16801 Euclid St., Fountain Valley.

The lake will be stocked with more than 1,000 pounds of trout or catfish, and children ages 6 to 15 can fish for free and compete for prizes.

Onsite registration will run from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and the Fishing Derby will follow from 9 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

For more information, visit ocparks.com/milesquare.

OC United Way offers free tax preparation service in Costa Mesa

Orange County United Way, in partnership with Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach), is bringing its free tax preparation program to Costa Mesa on Friday.

From 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, residents can visit the Costa Mesa Senior Center — at 695 W. 19th St. — and connect with certified tax preparers who can help them fill out all the necessary documents correctly and securely.

Free tax filing services are available for households that earned less than $60,000 in 2018. Appointments are required and can be made by phone at 888-434-8248. For more information, visit unitedwayoc.org/changing-lives/income/free-tax-preparation.

CdM High dance company presents “Orch Cinema”

Corona del Mar High School’s dance company, Orchesis, invites guests to attend “Orch Cinema,” in which performers will dance to iconic movie soundtracks.

The show begins Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Sea Kings Theater, 2101 Eastbluff Drive, Newport Beach. Guests also can catch it at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets are available for $15 at cdmorchesis.com or for $20 at the door.

Great Train Show at OC Fair & Event Center this weekend

A model train show will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the OC Fair & Event Center, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa.

The Great Train Show costs $11 for both days or $10 just for Sunday admission. For more information, visit bit.ly/2EDsgE6.

OCC Symphony concert to feature classic video game and film music

The Orange Coast College Symphony will perform music from popular video games and films at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the college’s Robert B. Moore Theatre, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa.

Music from games like Super Smash Bros. and films like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” will be played at the program.

“The idea to present a concert of film songs and video game music came as an understanding of the need to build bridges with new and young audiences to present classical orchestral playing in a new format,” conductor Maxim Kuzin said.

Tickets can be purchased for $15 for adults and $10 for students and senior citizens at occtickets.com. Tickets also are available at the door.

Gladiator soccer coming to Huntington Beach

Gladiator-inspired soccer tournaments in a cage are scheduled for Saturday at Huntington State Beach between Magnolia and Brookhurst streets.

The games will be two-on-two for players ages 6 to 19. Matches will last five minutes.

Registration is $40 per team. To register, visit bit.ly/2BXveS9.

Rain-related erosion forces closure of bluff trail in Costa Mesa’s Fairview Park

Recent heavy rainstorms have taken a toll on the bucolic bluffs in Costa Mesa’s Fairview Park, leading to the temporary closure of a trail in the area as the city works to stave off further erosion.

Starting Tuesday, the city will close the bluff trail — essentially between Pacific Avenue and the stairs leading to Talbert Regional Park — so workers can install a temporary berm, which city officials say will prevent erosion and keep water from draining out of the park’s vernal pools.

Those pools, which are essentially seasonal wetlands, are biologically sensitive areas and home to species such as the endangered Riverside and San Diego fairy shrimp.

The trail is expected to remain closed through March 8.

State honors 10 local campuses as Distinguished Schools

Ten local campuses are among 162 middle and high schools being honored for outstanding education programs and practices by the state Department of Education’s Distinguished Schools program.

The schools will hold the title for two years.

This year’s honorees include the Fountain Valley School District’s Fulton, Masuda and Talbert middle schools; the Huntington Beach City School District’s Dwyer and Sowers middle schools; the Huntington Beach Union High School District’s Edison and Marina high schools; the Laguna Beach Unified School District’s Thurston Middle School; the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s Early College High School and the Ocean View School District’s Mesa View Middle School.

2 exhibits to open this weekend at Laguna Art Museum

The Laguna Art Museum will kick off March with two new exhibits set to open Sunday.

“Centennial Gifts: Recent Additions to the Permanent Collection” will showcase a variety of works from California artists including Lita Albuquerque, Edgar Payne, Ruth Peabody and David Simpson. The artworks, which include gifts pledged over the past year as well as two museum purchases, will be the first displayed in the museum’s newly remodeled lower-level galleries.

The museum also is set to open “Titi, Nunu and Klembolo: Helena Modjeska’s Fairy Tale Book.” The exhibit will showcase the illustrated manuscript of Polish actress Helena Modjeska (1840 to 1909), who spent time at her country home Arden in what is now Orange County’s Modjeska Canyon writing and designing a fairy tale book as a Christmas gift for her grandson.

Her Polish and English handwritten story and ink-and-watercolor drawings detail the adventures of brothers Titi and Nunu and their six-legged blue dog, Klembolo, who live on Mars.

The exhibitions are open until May 27 at the museum, 381 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.

For more information, visit lagunaartmuseum.org.

Newport Beach community meeting to focus on safer streets

A Newport Beach community meeting to discuss how to make the streets safer in the Newport Heights and Cliff Haven neighborhoods will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Newport Theater Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive.

The meeting will be hosted by Councilman Brad Avery.

For more information, visit bit.ly/2GPO1mr.

History of the Hollywood sign to be discussed in Corona del Mar

The story of how Moses Sherman came to play a role in the creation of the Hollywood sign will be discussed at a free event at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Sherman Library & Gardens, 2647 E. Coast Hwy., Corona del Mar. Sherman is the venue’s namesake.

Historian Mary Mallory will describe how the sign became one of the nation’s most iconic images.

For more information, visit bit.ly/2H7qj4z.

Newport mayor to speak at community breakfast

Newport Beach Mayor Diane Dixon will speak at a community breakfast from 7:15 to 8:30 a.m. March 7 at the Newport Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave.

Dixon will discuss the state of the city and goals and projects for the year during the free Wake Up Newport meeting.

For more information, visit bit.ly/2EFy4gr.

Laguna Beach art school to showcase faculty’s animation artwork

The Laguna College of Art + Design will present an animation exhibit featuring works from faculty members March 7-28.

The artists include Dan Boulos, Richard Ewing, Peter Ferk, Dave Kuhn, Larissa Marantz, Glen Miller and Mark Zoeller.

Their work includes watercolor, oil and digital paint and other forms. The college’s gallery is at 374 Ocean Ave., Laguna Beach.

For more information, visit bit.ly/2BXCoWx.

H.B. student wins essay competition

A student at Lake View Elementary School in Huntington Beach was recently named a winner in a Martin Luther King Jr.-inspired essay competition.

Third-grader Kennedy Nguyen was recognized by Hormel Foods — the sponsor of the contest — for her essay and will receive a gift card, a class party and school supplies. She also will be eligible to compete in a national contest.

Laguna Art Museum raises more than $435,000 at auction

The Laguna Art Museum raised more than $435,000 at its 37th annual art auction Feb. 16.

More than 250 guests attended the event to bid on paintings from artists such as Tony DeLap, John Mason and Laddie John Dill.

The California Cool Art Auction is the longest-running benefit art auction in California.