About 300 persons turned out tonight for a VIP party prior to the Westport Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts Gala. The party, in a tent on Taylor Place and inside Tiffany & Co., preceded the concert “Don Felder: An Evening at the Hotel California,” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Among those attending a VIP party tonight as part of the Levitt Pavilion Gala was Mimi Levitt. The arts facility is named after her and her late husband Mortimer. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) WestportNow.com photo

Toes were tapping today and heads were keeping time to the beat as Westporter native Heather Hardy played on her violin at the Westport Center for Senior Activities today. Her group included T. J. Swan on guitar and Wayne Sabella on keyboard. Hardy returned to the Center by popular demand.  A Staples grad, she attended Manhattan School of music.  She formed the “Lil Mama Band” in 1998 and was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame.The event was co-sponsored by the Friends of the Westport Center for Senior Activities. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

Musician Heather Hardy spends some time with her parents, Neil and Judy Hardy of Westport, before entertaining today at the Westport Centeer for Senior Activities. Heather was brought up in Westport, began studying piano at age six and picked up the violin at nine. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

A crew sets up the stage today for the Levitt Pavilion Gala tonight featuring “Don Felder: An Evening at the Hotel California,” which starts at 9 p.m.  According to organizers, more than 1,000 persons are expected to attend the ticketed performance. Funds from the event pay for more than 50 free nights of entertainment each summer.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Noise complaints from neighbors have silenced the “Sweet Sounds of Summer” Friday and Saturday night band concerts in the courtyard outside of Saugatuck Sweets, 575 Riverside Ave., in Westport’s Saugatuck Center.

The Dave Kardas quartet entertained last weekend as part of the “Sweeet Sounds of Summer” series at Saugatuck Center. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

First word of the cancellation came in an email tonight to fans from the popular rock band DNR, which had been scheduled to play Friday night. The series cancellation was later confirmed by one of the organizers.

“Sadly, Saugatuck Sweets has just canceled our performance tomorrow night,” the email said.

“They received complaints about ‘noise’ from prior bands and are unable to have music in the courtyard for the rest of the summer.

Westport landscape and architectural photographer Stacy Bass was the special guest at today’s ArtCafé at the Westport Arts Center. She participated in a book signing and discussion about her “Gardens at First Light” collection. She is pictured with Helen Klisser During, WAC artistic director. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Miggs Burroughs for WestportNow.com

Best selling author Amy Bloom (r) was interviewed tonight at the Westport Library by Westporter Sybil Steinberg, Publisher’s Weekly editor-at-large, before a packed audience. She discussed her acclaimed novel “Lucky Us,” published last year and just issued in paperback. Bloom, who lives in Durham, Conn., a rural community located about halfway between Hartford and New Haven, taught at Yale University for the last decade and is now Wesleyan University’s Distinguished University Writer in Residence. “I learned to write by being an avid reader,” she told the audience, adding, “My children say that I write about four things: family, sex, death and love.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com

Emily DeMaso, 16, of Fairfield, a rising junior at Ludlowe High School, was named Best Overall Winner in the Westport Library’s third annual Teen Photography Contest and accepted a $500 savings account prize today from sponsor Bankwell Bank. The competition, judged by Westport photographers Larry Silver and Phyllis Groner, a contributing WestportNow photographer, was open to all Connecticut residents in grades 6-12. Emily, holding certificate, posed with her family in front of her winning photo, a portrait of her sister, Claire, standing next to her. Mom, Joann, said, “When I saw the photo, I never realized it was Claire.” Other family members are brother, Patrick (l), and dad, Nick. Emily’s picture as well as winners in various categories are featured in a display in the library’s first floor Riverwalk Hallway through Aug. 31. See winning photos here and all entries here. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com