A FOND FAREWELL: At its final meeting of the 2016-17 season, McCarter Theatre Center’s Board of Trustees bid farewell to four outgoing board members. Pictured (l-r) is Departing Board Member Shawn Ellsworth, McCarter Board Chair Leslie Kuenne, Departing Board Member Carolyn P. Sanderson, McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann, and McCarter Managing Director Timothy J. Shields. (Photo credit Matt Pilsner)

At its final meeting of the 2016-17 season, McCarter Theatre Center’s Board of Trustees said farewell to four outgoing board members. Departing the board are: Shawn Ellsworth – president, Ellsworth Realty Associates; Carolyn P. Sanderson – managing director, JPMorgan Chase and Co.; Jesse Treu, PhD – partner, Domain Associates; Danilo Verge, MD, MBA – vice president CVMD Global Medical Affairs, AstraZeneca.  more

The Westminster Summer Choral Festival Chorus and Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, conducted by Joe Miller, will perform Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 on Saturday, July 1 at 7 p.m. in Miller Chapel on the campus of the Princeton Theological Seminary. A free-will offering will be taken at the concert.

Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 is known for the grandeur of its conception and the opulence of its sound. No other surviving work from that time is written on such a scale, combining the grandest of public music with the most intimate of solo songs; no other such work calls for the many colorful instruments and uses them in such a daringly modern, virtuosic way. The work is believed to have been written as an example of what could be done setting texts in different styles, particularly the new theatrical style of which Monteverdi was a great pioneer. Instead of the flowing, closely knit counterpoint expected from a composer like Palestrina of the preceding generation, the Vespers of 1610 has been described as half opera and half dance. more

AN EVENING OF THEATER AND PETS: Award-winning local playwright Noemi de la Puente teams up with SAVE – A Friend to Homeless Animals, for an imaginative fundraising event to support both Dramatic Question Theatre (DQT) in New York City and SAVE — A Friend to Homeless Animals in Skillman. The event will take place on Thursday, June 29 at SAVE, located at 1010 Route 601 in Skillman. Doors open for The Pet Play reading at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 online and $25 at the door. To purchase, visit www.artful.ly/dramatic-question-theatre-dqt.

Award-winning local playwright Noemi de la Puente teams up with SAVE — A Friend to Homeless Animals, for an imaginative fundraising event to support both Dramatic Question Theatre (DQT) in New York City, and SAVE – A Friend to Homeless Animals in Skillman, N.J. on Thursday, June 29 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The event will be held at SAVE, located at 1010 Route 601 in Skillman. A tour of the facility will precede the event at 5:30 p.m.  more

MATISSE: Among the special items at next week’s Friends of the Princeton Public Library Book Sale, held June 23-24 in the library’s Community Room, is a copy — not the one shown here — of “Henri Matisse Catalogue Raisonné de L’œuvre Gravé.”

The 2017 Friends of the Princeton Public Library Book Sale will take place June 23-24 in the library’s Community Room.

One of the top used book sales in the region, this year’s sale includes more than 10,000 books for all ages and across a wide variety of topics. Most books are priced between $1 and $3, with art books and special selections priced higher. more

The Mercer County Park Commission, in cooperation with the Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation, is excited to announce that the first Mercer County Jazz Festival at the Festival Grounds will be held Saturday, July 8, from noon to 8 p.m. Come out to Mercer County Park to enjoy a mix of contemporary, big band, and bebop jazz.

The day’s musical lineup kicks off with No WiFi, a five-piece band consisting of high school juniors and seniors who represent the future of local jazz.  more

Last weekend, Mayor Liz Lempert joined the 211 U.S. mayors adding their name to the Climate Mayors open letter affirming to adopt, honor, and uphold the commitments of the goals enshrined in the Paris Agreement. Climate Mayors (also know as Mayors National Climate Action Agenda or MNCAA) is a network of U.S. mayors representing over 50 million Americans working together to strengthen local efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting efforts for binding federal and global-level policy making.

“With the Trump Administration’s inexcusable withdrawal from the Paris agreement, it is imperative that towns and cities take the lead on climate action,” said Ms. Lempert. “We are fortunate that Princeton has many organizations, public and private, working in tandem with the municipality on efforts that support the goals in the agreement.” more

New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher has announced the 2017 Jersey Freshcipes contest, encouraging people to create and share recipes using Jersey Fresh produce as one of the main ingredients.

The recipes can be entered by going to http://jerseyfresh.nj.gov/recipecontest.html. There will be weekly winners as well as a grand prize of a $500 Visa gift card and Jersey Fresh kitchen accessories.

Recipe entries must include a name for the dish, a brief description, the ingredients, preparation directions, and a photo of the finished recipe. There is no limit to how many times one person can enter. The weekly winners will be highlighted on the Jersey Fresh Facebook page and on the Jersey Fresh website. more

The Cherry Valley Cooperative prepares for its first harvest at its new location. (Photo by Rachel Steinhauser)

“You know, the food that we’re eating is just devoid of nutrients, and it’s devoid of flavor,” Lauren Nagy says, perched on a plastic chair in the greenhouse of the Cherry Valley Cooperative. Rows of carrots, Swiss chard, kale, and all manner of other vegetable sit in starter trays stretching to the back of the facility in a patchwork of greens. A barrel-sized bucket of “compost tea” brews, gurgling nearby. Ms. Nagy explains that much of the flavor and aroma of fruits and vegetables is influenced and enriched by soil life. She says that large-scale agricultural producers tend to neglect soil quality, to the detriment of their produce. “People just don’t want to eat it — because it sucks,” she says, “We’re trying to make people like food again.” more

Grand Marshal Dan Lopresti, Princeton *87, leads the Princeton University P-rade on Saturday afternoon during Reunions weekend. He is followed by alumni in festive attire grouped by graduating class, starting by tradition with the 25th reunion class. Participants share why they came for Reunions weekend in this week’s Town Talk, and more photos are featured on page 18. (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)

Princeton University held its 270th commencement ceremony on the green in front of Nassau Hall yesterday morning. A total of 1,268 seniors were awarded undergraduate degrees, three from former classes, and 988 students were recognized with graduate degrees.

The University also gave honorary degrees to five individuals for their contributions to public service, the sciences, athletics, education, and the humanities. Recognized were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball star and social activist; Juliet Villareal Garcia, the first Mexican-American woman president of a U.S. college or university; Pamela Matson, an academic leader in environmental science; Bunker Roy, Indian social activist and educator; and Jeremiah P. Ostriker, astrophysicist and former provost of Princeton University who helped establish its pioneering financial aid program. more

Members of Sourland Conservancy, Mercer County Parks Commission, Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space, and the D&R Greenway Land Trust all came together to plant over 300 native flowers, shrubs, and trees in support of the American Woodcock Habitat Restoration Project in Hopewell Borough Park. (Image Courtesy of Brianna DiPalermo)