(Below is a press release from the Dearborn Heights Montessori Center)

Dearborn Heights Montessori Center will host the third annual “Taste of the Town” fundraiser event from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 18, 2010.

Local restaurants will be offering a wide variety of delicious food items to sample, and area businesses have donated special prizes for a large gift basket raffle. Rain or shine, the community is welcome to attend this indoor school event which is located at 466 N. John Daly in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.

According to Shelley Boatright, communications coordinator for Dearborn Heights Montessori Center, “Taste of the Town” is expected to sell out. Providing food for this year’s event is Antonio’s Cucina Italiana, Applebee’s, BD’s Mongolian Barbeque, Dearborn Italian Bakery, Dearborn Sausage, Del Taco, La Pita, Papa Romano’s, Panera, Pizzapapalis, Rio Wraps, Subway and others.

Businesses contributing prizes for the gift basket drawings include Barnes and Noble, Creatopia Pottery, Dearborn Racquet and Health Club, English Gardens, Om Spa and many more. Baskets will include a variety of items from toys to event tickets to electronics. There will also be a special raffle for a cruise and a $500 tuition voucher.

Proceeds raised at this year’s event will be used to help fund Dearborn Heights Montessori’s upper elementary educational trips and to support the needs of the school’s classroom teachers.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students. Children under three years of age are free. Because of the anticipated large turnout, the public is encouraged to purchase tickets In advance. Ample parking is available.

For more details and to request tickets for “Taste of the Town,” call 313-359-3000 or email tasteofthetown@wowway.com

About Dearborn Heights Montessori Center

Dearborn Heights Montessori Center (DHMC) is a non-profit educational community founded in 1972. Now in its fourth decade, DHMC is the largest and longest-established Montessori school in western Wayne County. Programs include preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school as well as summer programs and academic tutoring. Day care and latchkey are also available for enrolled children. In September 2010, DHMC will introduce a Montessori toddler program for ages 18 months through three years.

DHMC has received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and is affiliated with the American Montessori Society, Michigan Montessori Society, and the Association of Independent Michigan Schools (AIMS). DHMC preschool and latchkey programs, along with its satellites Livonia Montessori Center and Plymouth-Canton Montessori School, are licensed by the Michigan Division of Child Care Licensing. More information is available at www.dhmontessori.org

Construction work on the CSO project near Cherry Hill and Brady has been temporarily halted to protect the roads during the spring thaw.

The City of Dearborn sent a note out yesterday to local media explaining why the work had been halted. Residents apparently raised questions on why the work had been stopped.

In a prepared statement, the city said that in order to protect the integrity of the roads during the spring thaw, work on the CSO project in the area bounded by Brady, Cherry Hill, Golf Crest and Cherry Hill Court will be temporarily halted starting March 8 until water under the roadway has evaporated, which should be approximately the first week of April.

City officials say this is necessary because as frost below the road’s surface melts, the road’s base is weakened by the water. Continuing to drive heavy trucks on roads during this time can seriously affect the road’s integrity.

State, county and local governments all mandate that during the thaw, heavy trucks reduce their loads by 35 percent.

Some contractors continue their operation with reduced truck loads in order to comply and some contractors postpone their operation until frost laws are no longer in effect.

The City’s contractor Angelo Iafrat has chosen to postpone their operation since most of it involves heavy transportation of earth and sand, Dearborn officials say.