Each year, on Labor Day weekend, St. Louis’s Central West End becomes a little slice of Mediterranean heaven for St. Nicholas’ Greek Festival. One of the metro-area’s favorite festivals, the Greek Festival is a celebration of they country’s traditional food, dance, music and culture. The festival draws a large crowd each year, and some local celebrities like Mayor Francis Slay (pictured right at the church’s 2008 festival).

Saturday, Sunday and Monday festival attendees can enjoy phenomenal gyros, spanikotpia (spinach pie), and pyropita (cheese pie) under the tents outdoors or in the gymnasium where the St. Nicholas dance troupe will be performing all three days. Tours of the the Greek Orthodox Church will be led by congregation members, and Greek treasures will be sold at the marketplace. And for those so inclined you can enjoy the dangerously delicious frozen Ouzo (aniseed liquor) in the Taverna tent while enjoying live, traditional Greek dance and music.

The St. Nicholas Greek Festival runs Saturday and Sunday from 11am until 9pm, and on Labor Day from 11am until 8pm. Main Stage dance performances run daily at 12:30pm, 3:15pm and 5:15pm and in the Taverna outdoor beer garden at 4pm and 7pm. You can find more information about tours, the marketplace and their famous menu by visiting the Greek Festival’s website. Oopah!

Create a unique gallery wall anywhere in your home by adding wall niches and recessed lighting. It is the prefect way to display a treasured collection or seasonal decorations. This gallery wall was created in a Hibbs Home in Jefferson County, Missouri.

Hosting a kid’s birthday party doesn’t mean whipping out the industrial size trash bags and sending shivers down the garbage guys’ spines on Monday. In fact, with a little bit of planning up front, reducing birthday party waste will save you money and time at future birthday parties and who couldn’t use a few more dollars and minutes?

Here are four tips that will help you do your part to make sure the world your little ones enjoy on their first birthday party is a clean as the world they enjoy on their 90th:

Reducing waste and greening up your child’s birthday party is a cost effective party planning solution, and the clean up will take about the same amount of time if you have your dishwasher ready to go. So why not save your self time and money, and save the plant from all that waste?

Image Credit: Things We Make

Just on the tip of southwest St. Louis County is the fast growing city of Fenton, Missouri. In just the last ten years the city has added more than 300 acres of retail and business space at the Gravois Bluffs shopping center, opened the large multipurpose Riverchase Recreational Complex, and most recently they welcomed the addition of the metro-area’s first new hospital in 35 years, St. Clare Hospital.

In a metropolitan area dominated by cars, highway travel, and less than average commuter drives, Fenton was once considered to be on the outskirts of the county even though it is only a half-hour drive from downtown and offers easy access to multiple highways. However, it is perhaps one of the best attributes of the St. Louis metro-area that any commute over a half-hour is considered “lengthy”.

Though there has been a surge in growth over the last few years, the proximity to the river encouraged people to call Fenton home as far back as a 1,000 years ago.

A prime location for custom built homes, Fenton is located in the highly sought after Rockwood School District. The city proper is only 5.5 square miles, but, unlike many older cities, it is still possible to secure a sizable chunk of acreage in the surrounding areas. For it’s unique combination of a rich history with open acreage, the city’s Historical Society boasts it as one of the “county’s best kept secrets.”

The Chrysler Plant that was once the city’s staple business has closed, but plans to redevelop the space into a “green” business park are presently in the works. Local and state officials are recruiting green firms to take up residence in the former assembly plant. The city is working with a $2.1 million dollar grant to redevelop the space, and businesses who locate there also have the added advantage of paying no municipal property taxes. The goal of the project is to bring new life to the 5 million square foot property that is now sitting vacant.

You can learn more about the city of Fenton by visiting their website, www.FentonMo.org.

Three outdoor ceiling mounted fans keep this porch nice and cool and also help to deter bugs outside this pool house built by Hibbs Homes in Frontenac. Sitting on a rocking chair waiting for the grandkids to arrive has never looked so good.