Local

The Union County Master Gardeners will debut their new xeriscape-designed garden at 3:30 p.m., on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at the South Arkansas Arboretum in El Dorado. The garden features flowers, shrubs and trees that require little or no extra watering. The garden was made possible through a grant from the Union County Water Conservation Board.

Sharpes, Fla. carpenter Bryan Hein's work dried up when the housing market collapsed. He's since developed a nonprofit organization, the Eden Plan, to teach homeless people the carpentry and home building trade. Hein, 30, is walking about 2,600 miles to raise awareness. He hopes to arrive in Santa Monica, Calif. by mid-December. Hein is passing through Ruston and Shreveport this week.

The LSU Shreveport Pioneer Heritage Center will host hundreds of visitors on Saturday, Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., for its annual pioneer day. Center director Marty Young says the aim is to transport people back to the 1850s, featuring a variety of folklife demonstrations and tours of the seven historic buildings that make up the Heritage Center.

Community Renewal International of Shreveport aims to revitalize the Queensborough neighborhood with the opening of its tenth Friendship House. The house is patterned after a community center, but with a live-in coordinator who delivers programs and services in the neighborhood. This is the second Friendship House to open in Queensborough.