Forest Park

The Evolution Festival features headliners the Black Keys and Brandi Carlisle, plus a focus on local barbecue. Its producers hope to build it into a signature event in St. Louis but are counting on a strong first year.

Pickleball is taking over St. Louis. Seven south St. Louis parks have permanent pickleball courts, and a former Bed Bath & Beyond in Lake St. Louis has been converted into a pickleball club.

Ted Spaid has designed the region's favorite outdoor hangout spots like the St. Louis Zoo and Art Hill. Now he’s wrapping up work on St. Louis’ newest basketball courts in Tower Grove Park and Forest Park.

Charles lost his mate Virginia, as well as their eggs, just before the new year. He’s been courting a new female since January.

The Evolution Festival will bring Brandi Carlile, the Black Keys, the Black Crowes and Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals to Forest Park in late August. Organizers say it could draw 20,000 concertgoers a day for two days.

Basketball cannot come soon enough to St. Louis’ largest parks.

The basketball courts in Tower Grove and Forest parks are expected to be ready by 2023.

Over the past two years, an area of Forest Park the size of more than 15 football fields has been transformed into the Anne O’C. Albrecht Nature Playscape. It opened to the public earlier this week, sporting a colorful range of native and diverse plant species — and curiosity-sparking play elements.

St. Louis Zoo President and CEO Jeffrey Bonner plans to retire by the end of the year. Zoo officials credit Bonner with leading the organization’s fundraising and conservation efforts.

The coronavirus has robbed St. Louis of another longstanding tradition.St. Louis Shakespeare Festival canceled its annual summer production, leaving the…