Two well-known people with Riverside connections took to the stage at Navy Pier during the seventh annual Catholic Charities Gala of the Arts Sept. 5. The benefit featured a premier performance of “Gala Goes Broadway.

Riverside’s own Paula Scrofano performed after the dinner. “Our Gal” Paula opened the program by belting out “Everything’s Comin’ Up Roses” from “Gypsy” and “Before the Parade Passes By” from “Hello, Dolly.” Scrofano and her husband, actor John Reeger, are considered by many as the reigning “theater couple” in American theater today, taking the place of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who are no longer with us.

Scrofano recently has appeared at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre as the Abbess in “A Comedy of Errors” and as Charley’s mother in “Willy Wonka.” She will appear this fall in “All Shook Up” at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire.

Members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Riverside will remember the Rev. Timothy J. Lyne, who served as pastor of the parish in Riverside for 19 years — from 1943 to 1962. The retired auxiliary bishop was introduced to the hundreds of guests at the annual charity celebration by the Rev. Michael M. Boland, administrator, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, who congratulated him on his 65th anniversary in the priesthood and his 25th anniversary as bishop for the Archdiocese of Chicago.

For those interested in attending, a Mass of Celebration honoring Lyne will be at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, at Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State St., Chicago.

District 96 music faculty to play concert

The music faculty of Riverside School District 96 invites everyone to their annual music recital this eveningWednesday, Sept. 17 in the Hauser Auditorium, 65 Woodside Road. The concert is at 7 p.m., with ample parking behind the school or on Woodside Road.

The talented instrumentalists who teach our children include Brian Collins, percussion, James Colombo, French horn, and Patricia Goyette-Gill, piano and cello. Vocalists will include William Howes, baritone, Jane Lauritsen, soprano, and Laura Lynch, soprano.

Of the 480 students enrolled in grades six through eight at Hauser, Lynch teaches 85 students in the choirs. Colombo has 158 students in the band program. There are 102 students in the orchestra program, directed by Goyette-Gill.

North Riverside Library to have open house

As a part of North Riverside Day celebrations Sunday, Sept. 21, the North Riverside Public Library will celebrate the day with a special open house.

Riverside School District 96 Irish Dancers will entertain. Boys and girls in grades one through five will perform traditional dances from Ireland. They will demonstrate solo dances  – such as the jig, the reel and slip jig – and team dances – such as the two-hand and four-hand reel.

This fall, the library will continue running movies at 3 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month. If anyone is heading to Las Vegas soon, the library will show “21,” a movie telling the true story about a group of Massachusetts Institure of Technology students, who, along with their professor, try their theories at beating the tables in the gambling Mecca. It might be well worth the time to view the movie, or for a more comprehensive course, to enroll at MIT. (Don’t tell anyone Valerie sent you.)

The North Riverside Public Library will join thousands of bookstores and libraries nationwide in celebrating the freedom to read during Banned Books Week, Saturday, Sept. 27, through Saturday, Oct. 4. Observed since 1982, the annual event is a celebration of the freedom to read and reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

The North Riverside Public Library is at 2400 S. Des Plaines Ave.