Smiley’s Pet Pad offers everything a pet owner could need to pamper any pet, from pooch to parakeet. The wide range of products offered at Smiley’s Pet Pad combined with excellent customer service gives it a unique feel that you can’t find at just any pet store.

Ginny Smiley, owner of Smiley’s Pet Pad, is a pet lover herself and understands the need for quality products. Ginny has worked in pet supplies for thirty years and has been serving pet owners at her store on South Highland Avenue for five years.

Smiley’s sells a small selection of birds and small animals such as mice and hamsters. The store has a variety of pet products including healthy lines of dog food and products made by brands such as Planet Dog, these are not products that can be found in large chain pet supply stores.

Along with their fabulous products, Smiley’s offers a very unique service of boarding small pets. While the store does not have room to board dogs or cats, they will be happy to board your bunny, ferret, hamster, bird or other small pets while you’re away.

Smiley’s is located at 215 S. Highland Avenue and its hours of business are Monday 10-7, Tuesday 10-6, Wednesday 10-7, Thursday 10-6, Friday 10-7, Saturday 10-5:30 and Sunday Noon-5. For more information call 412.362.7556.

This Saturday, July 28 at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, Towdah- Zamar presents, “A Night with the Stars.” A group of talented young students will perform a variety show impersonating some of today’s hottest stars. The show will begin at 7:30 pm with a red carpet entrance with “appearances” from stars like Beyonce, Ciara, Janet Jackson, Aalyiah, Chris Brown, Karen Clark-Sheard, Omarion, Fred Hammond and Steve Harvey.

The performances will begin at 8 pm. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $15 for groups of 10 to 19, and half off for groups larger than 20. For more information about this event, call 412.853.3904.

The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, located at 5941 Penn Avenue, provides a performing arts venue, as well as community theater facility and encourages diverse artistic, cultural and educational activities that will enrich the community as well as the lives of individuals.

The environment is warm and welcoming, a perfect place where emerging local artists can establish a presence and build a following in the Pittsburgh arts community. For more information or to book the Kelly-Strayhorn, call 412.363.3000 or go to their website, www.kelly-strayhorn.org.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Busway has a colorful, new mural stretching from the side of the overpass bridge on Ellsworth Avenue, onto Shady Avenue and wrapping around Penn Avenue. Each of the 200 colorful panels contains a monochromatic or negative-space outline photograph of an East Liberty community member. The faces represent men, women and children of different ages and ethnicities.

The mural is part of a city-wide art project to paint 24 different murals in eight neighborhoods this summer. Kyle Holbrook, owner of KH Design, coordinated the project and sought funding from a number of local foundations. The concept was designed by Kelly Blevins, a graphic design student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and painted by youths commissioned for the extensive summer art project.

The crew of 30 artists, site managers and 100 youth workers should have finished the first 14 murals by last Saturday. They will begin on the next 10 soon. Read more about this in the Post Gazette article.

(Left to right) GTECH principals Andrew Butcher and Matthew Ciccone speak with ELDI’s Sustainable Policy Coordinator, Nate Wildfire.

GTECH, (Growth Through Energy and Community Health) a non-profit spin-off out of CMU, will be planting bio-fuel crops on 3 sites in East Liberty that are currently blighted, vacant lots. GTECH, along with community youth, will maintain sunflower and canola crops, which are then harvested to create bio-diesel fuel. East Liberty will be the test model for this program, ideally moving the model to other neighborhoods.
This project is being funded by the Sprout Fund ENGAGE grant through the “Lots of Green” Initiative, which GTECH and ELDI received in late June.

Check out their recent article in the Post Gazette.

Kidz E-Fest will be held this Saturday, July 14th at Peabody High School on Highland Avenue. The event is FREE to the public and will feature activities geared toward children ages 12 and under. The day will include an inflatable play station, arts & crafts, carnival games and prizes, mural painting and live performances.

The event was coordinated with the East End Cooperative Ministry’s Youth Business Initiative. This group of motivated teens feel it is important to use their influences in a positive, proactive way to teach the younger generations.

For more information about KIDZ-E-Fest, contact the Youth Business Initiative at 412/361-5549 x413.

While some framers look at framing as you join four corners, cut a piece of glass and that’s that, Miller Frame does a lot more than just that. Wendi Miller, owner of Miller Frame says “Here we are art fabricators, not just picture framers”. With their custom framing equipment and 35 years of experience, Miller Frame can come up with a solution for almost anything.
Some of their unique services include shadowboxing and very large frames. At Miller Frame difficult and unusual projects are completed with skill and expertise and the ordinary is made extraordinary. The hours of business are Tuesday-Friday 10 am – 5 pm and Saturday 11 am – 4 pm.
For more information , 412.661.0575 or go to www.millerframe.com

Gardenalia is Pittsburgh’s urban garden boutique.  It is their mission to inspire city dwellers, green and brown thumbs alike, to make and decorate their gardens and outdoor sanctuaries.  The definition of ‘gardenalia’ is simply, the stuff you use to make and decorate gardens, paraphernalia for gardens and gardeners.  Gardenalia’s garden ware will spark the imagination and enhance the charm and function of the unique city spaces in which you live. 

At the store Gardenalia offers products such as containers, tools, birdbaths, fountains, statues, organic gardening supplies, seeds, plants, bonsai, bath and body products, candles, and garden inspired gifts and décor. 

Gardenalia also provides home services with a focus on small space gardening as well as organic and sustainable garden practices.  The trained gardeners and designers can serve as teachers for those who want to learn more about gardening or work to transform outdoor areas so that they provide function, relaxation and rejuvenation.  Services offered include container gardening, garden design, decorating, garden consulting & coaching, garden installation, vegetable gardening and gardening classes.

Gardenalia is located at 252 S. Highland Avenue. For spring and summer, they are open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 to 5 and Sunday from 1 to 5.  They can be reached at 412.441.9611 or gardenalia@comcast.net.