Orange County

COSTA MESA - Though she drew a fraction of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's crowd in Newport Beach last week, Rep. Michele Bachmann's supporters showed no signs of losing faith at the Orange County Fairgrounds on Friday. About 150 to 200 supporters came to hear the Minnesota Republican stump for the GOP nomination for president. "We are ready to take our country back in 2012!" Bachmann cried. The "tea party" favorite immediately went on the offensive against President Obama, and the government's $535-million contract with the now-defunct energy company Solyndra.

After a three-year hiatus, the Irvine Barclay Theatre's New World Flamenco Festival will return to its Orange County stomping grounds for a weeklong event featuring home-grown and international artists. From Monday to Sept. 25, Semana Flamenka — the ninth New World festival — will offer three main-stage concerts and three smaller-scale "fiestas" off-site at nightspots in Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach and Santa Ana. "One thing that's different about this year is this is an originally produced production by the festival," said Doug Rankin, president of the Barclay and the festival's producer.

A magnitude 3.5 earthquake hit the Newport Beach area early Thursday morning. The temblor occurred at 2:56 a.m. in the San Joaquin Hills area about two miles from Newport Beach and four miles from Irvine. It was felt over a large swath of Orange County, mostly notably Irvine and the South County region, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no reports of damage. —From LATimes.com Twitter: @LATimes

Newport Beach-born actor Kyle Harris wasn't a fan of "West Side Story" while growing up in Orange County, but the musical has since touched his life again and again. He was selected for the leading role of Tony in the show's touring Broadway production - to arrive at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa on Tuesday - after appearing in a sketch comedy production called "Web Site Story," which appeared on YouTube. "It's about Tony meeting Maria on Facebook, and it blew up and became viral really fast, which I did not expect at all," the 20-something Harris said in an interview.

The San Francisco Ballet, one of the country's oldest and most esteemed professional ballet companies, will return to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in September for the first time in three years. The company will perform Sept. 27 to 28 and Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa. The six performances, divided into two programs, include the Southern California premieres of Yuri Possokhov's "RAkU" and "Trio," choreographed by Helgi Tomasson, the San Francisco Ballet's artistic director and principal choreographer.

Memorial services will be held on Friday, August 26 th at 3:00 pm in the chapel of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 600 St. Andrews Road, Newport Beach, CA.  In lieu of flowers, the family suggests making a donation to the following charities in honor of Mary Beth Sartor Picard:  Women of Vision, Orange County, 25201 East La Paz Road, Suite 201, Laguna Hills, CA 92653 or the American Cancer Society, 1940 East Deere Ave. #100, Santa Ana, CA...

Elvis may have left the building in August 1977, but as millions of devotees and tens of thousands of Elvis impersonators will tell you, his spirit endures through his music and the tight-knit fan community formed in his name. Thousands of such fans will converge Sunday for the wildly popular Elvis Festival at the Orange County Market Place in Costa Mesa. "It kind of reminds me of a small-town carnival," said Kirk Wall, the festival's host since its inception. "They have things like watermelon eating contests and a huge turnout.

COSTA MESA - As she walked out of the new Sprouts Farmers Market on Wednesday with two ripe cantaloupes, Andrea Bowen said she "couldn't be more tickled. " The melons, which she had tucked into a green recyclable bag, cost her 19 cents a pound. "Usually, cantaloupe is 49 cents a pound - but 19 cents? That's unheard of," said Bowen, a Costa Mesa resident. Other grand-opening deals included large ripe tomatoes for 88 cents a pound, four ears of white corn for $1, and buy one, get one free Humboldt organic butter.

Summer on the Orange Coast is alive with people, parties and purpose. All that and amazing food and entertainment to go right along with the fun in the sun season. On Tuesday evenings in Newport Beach the venerable Ritz, in the capable hands of Ray Jacobi , features an amazing Southern barbecue and concert on the patio. On a recent Tuesday evening, the Fabulous Baker Boys in from Las Vegas entertained as the chef created the best barbecue this side of any Texas county line.

COSTA MESA - Leading up to his final high school football game, Kellon Truxton figured to play a lot Friday. For three weeks, the South All-Stars lined up Truxton almost everywhere on the field during practice. The recent Newport Harbor High graduate spent time at safety, outside linebacker, wide receiver and on special teams. With so many roles, Truxton was unsure where he might see the most time at the 52nd annual Brea Lions Club Orange County North-South All-Star Game.