Best Buddies hosts first Friendship Jam

Maureen McCormick of "The Brady Bunch" fame will be the celebrity hostess at the inaugural Best Buddies "Friendship Jam" from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Jimmy Buffett’s at the Beachcomber in Waikiki.

Andy Bumatai will emcee the event, which will feature performances by Henry Kapono, Marlene Sai, Kapena, Nathan Aweau, Jordan Segundo, Al Waterson, Taimane, Starr Kalahiki and Jimmy Buffett’s house band, Kailua Bay Buddies.

The $50 cost includes food, refreshments and a silent auction. For tickets, call Tammy Evrard at 772-0294 or visit www.best­buddieshawaii.com. Free validated parking is available at the Holiday Inn Waikiki Beachcomber Resort.

Best Buddies Hawaii is part of an international organization that assists youths with intellectual and developmental disabilities through peer mentoring, employment training and leadership development. The local program was started on Maui by Michael McCormick, the actress’ brother, in 2008. The two have a sibling who was born with an intellectual disability.

Best Buddies already has successful programs at Valley Isle schools, and proceeds from the Friendship Jam will help support efforts at Kapolei Middle and High School, Kaimuki High School, Pearl City High School, Nanakuli Middle School and High School, and Waipahu High School.

Fill up on fine fauna at Lyon Arboretum

Lyon Arboretum will hold its annual holiday plant and craft sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission to the nearly 200-acre rainforest botanical garden, administered by the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is free.

Shoppers can pick up colorful ti varieties, cacti and succulents, orchids, anthuriums, heliconias, gingers, tillandsias and other bromeliads, native plants, UH-variety vegetable seeds and other plants for homes and gardens. Ceramic pots and planters also will be available.

Olomana Tropicals will be selling several kinds of lilikoi and "Lime Puff" (Schaueria calycotricha), a versatile shrub with ohia-like flowers that are used for lei or as cut flowers. Arboretum volunteers from Hui Hana Hawai‘i will sell dry and fresh holiday wreaths and oshibana (pressed flower) crafts. Other offerings include jams, jellies and Hawaiian honey.

A free shuttle service will have pick-up and drop-off points at the intersections of Poelua Street and Manoa Road, and Nipo Street and Manoa Road. The arboretum is at 3860 Manoa Road.

Call 988-0456 or visit www.hawaii.edu/lyonarboretum.