Holidays at the Garden: The annual Holidays at the Garden event is open 9 a.m. to noon daily, except Christmas Day, through Dec. 31 at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, 6500 S. New Hope Road, Belmont.

The event includes model train displays, family Christmas crafts, holiday carols, an Orchid Tree featuring more than 300 orchids, a 30-foot-tall Norway spruce, Christmas lights and fire pits for making s’mores.

Admission is $12 for adults, $11 for ages 60 and older and $6 for ages 4-12. Members get in at half price every night, except for Tuesdays, when they get in free.

Carriage rides will be offered Thursdays through Sundays, through Dec. 31 at $6.50 for adults and $4.50 for children. Entertainment is located outside on the Garden Stage and is subject to change. For up-to-date details, visit www.DSBG.org.

This week’s events include:

Lake Norman Baptist Church Handbell Ensemble: 6 p.m. Dec. 16.

Holiday jazz with Brandon Williams: 6 p.m. Dec. 17, 19 and 21.

A capella holiday classics with Queen City Groove: 6 p.m. Dec. 18.

Santa Claus at the Garden: 6 p.m. Dec. 16 -21.

Music by Carmen Giardino Trio: 6 p.m. Dec. 20.

Speaker series: The Gaston County Public Library will host a two-part multimedia Road Scholars speaker series exploring women at work in post-Civil War Piedmont North Carolina.

Angela Robbins Marritt will present the first discussion on “Women’s Work in the Early New South” at 2 p.m. Jan. 5. The bad weather date is Jan. 12.

Roxanne Newton will present the second discussion, “Hard Times in the Mills: Working Lives Past and Present,” at 2 p.m. Feb. 2. The bad weather date is March 2.

Both discussions take place in the auditorium of the Main Library, 1555 E. Garrison Blvd., Gastonia.

Marritt is a professor at UNC Greensboro and Salem College. Newton is director of the Humanities and Fine Arts Division of Mitchell Community College and the author of “Women Workers on Strike: Narratives of Southern Women Unionists.”

Both events are free and appropriate for adults and high school students. Advance reservations are required for organized groups. For details, call 704-868-2164 / Dial 4 or visit www.gastonlibrary.org.

Terrific Toddler Tuesday: This month’s Terrific Toddler Tuesday program will be held 10-10:45 a.m. Dec. 18 at the Gaston County Museum of Art and History, 131 W. Main St., Dallas. The theme will be “Victorian Christmas.”

The program is geared toward preschoolers ages 1-4. Children must be accompanied by an adult. The program is free to museum members and $2 per child for nonmembers. Adults are free. Participants will make a holiday ornament. A pine tree decorated with Victorian ornaments will be available for holiday photos.

Terrific Toddler Tuesday takes place the fourth Tuesday of each month. For details, call 704-922-7681 or visit www.gastoncountymuseum.org.

Lincoln County

Photography competition: The Arts Council of Lincoln County will accept entries for its annual Amateur Photography Competition 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 4-5 at the Lincoln Cultural Center, 403 E. Main St., Lincolnton. The show will run Jan. 11-27 in the Carolina Mills and Cochrane Galleries of the Lincoln Cultural Center. There will be an opening reception and awards presentation for the artists and public, 6-8 p.m. Jan. 11.

Participants must be amateur photographers age 18 or older. Entries should be original photographs that have not been reproduced for public sale and have not been exhibited in any Arts Council of Lincoln County events in the past. Entry fee is $20 for up to three photographs with a limit of two entry fees per participant.

Categories for photographs are: plant life and landscapes, people, animal life, abstract and special effects, miscellaneous, and black and white. Entries must be framed and ready to hang. No sawtooth hangers, hooks or desktop frames are allowed. Awards are $125 for Best of Show, $25 for first place, $15 for second place and $10 for third place in each category. For details, contact the Arts Council of Lincoln County at 704-732-9044 or artslincolnnc@gmail.com.

Festival of Trees: The Festival of Trees is open 5-8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2-5 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 23 in the former Carolinas Medical Center – Lincoln Medical Center, 200 Gamble Drive, Lincolnton.

The Festival of Trees features 107 Christmas trees decorated by community groups and businesses, a handmade art and craft market, a holiday gift shop; live poinsettias, trees and plants for sale, a Christmas Coffee House and live music.

Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for seniors age 62 and older and students; free for children younger than 6. On Sundays, guests can bring canned goods to donate to Christian Ministries and receive $1 off admission. For details, visit www.artslincolnnc.org.

Kings Mountain

Peace Path: Hospice of Cleveland County held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Dec. 9 for the Peace Path at the Kings Mountain Hospice House. Shelby High School senior Amanda Lake Heath renovated the Peace Path for her Girl Scout Gold Award project in honor of her grandfather, Charles Nalley. Nalley is a hospice board of member, a family and patient support volunteer and helped acquire the land for the Wendover Hospice House in Shelby.

Heath is the daughter of Angela and Scott Heath and is a member of Girl Troop 20365 at Central United Methodist Church.

For the project, she recruited volunteers to help her install stepping stones at each end of the path, spread mulch and placed a brick border along the entire walking trail. She also provided different versions of the Bible and hymnals to accompany a prayer and meditation guide for those using the path.

The Gold Award is the highest achievement in Girl Scouts. Compiled by Gina Smith