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Short Takes

Museums & Attractions
  • The Houston Museum of Natural Science is presenting the world premiere exhibition Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia, including the original fossilized remains of the 3.2 million-year-old hominid known as Lucy. With 40 percent of her skeleton intact, Lucy remains the oldest and most complete adult human ancestor fully retrieved from African soil. Other important paleoanthropological discoveries will also be represented to complete the current account of human evolution as known to scientists today. This is an international exhibition organized by the museum in collaboration with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ethiopian Exhibition Coordinating Committee. Lucy will be on display through April 20, 2008. For more information, call 713.639.4629 or visit www.hmns.org.

  • Managers of Elvis’ former home, Graceland, are planning to overhaul the complex, putting in a new visitors center bigger than a football field, a convention hotel and high-tech museum displays. The project, which has no timetable yet, is expected to cost some $250 million. Plans call for leveling the current visitors center and souvenir shops and building an 80,000-square-foot visitors center, about six or seven times the size of the mansion. Graceland draws close to 600,000 visitors a year. For more information, call 901.332.3322 or visit www.elvis.com.

Programs & Packages
  • Daufuskie Island Resort & Breathe Spa is offering its Think Meeting Package, available Sundays through Thursdays until Dec. 20. The package offers discounted room rates starting at $155 per night for Inn rooms and $229 for two-bedroom cottages. It also includes a beachside barbeque, bonfire and complimentary round of golf with a minimum reservation of 10 rooms, single occupancy. The resort offers the 21,000-square-foot Island House conference center with executive meeting and banquet rooms that accommodate up to 400 people, and a 300-person ballroom. For more information, call 800.960.9089 or visit www.daufuskieislandresort.com.

  • The 350,000-square-foot Shreveport Convention Center is offering a rental discount rate to groups who book an event with the center before the end of 2007. The 25 percent discount is valid for any group that signs a contract by Dec. 31 and utilizes a minimum of 200 hotel rooms on a peak night. A 25 percent deposit is required. The discount can be applied to any new event on any date not previously contracted. The center offers 100,000 square feet of column-free exhibit space, accommodating 470 booths. A second level includes an 18,000-square-foot grand ballroom that can be sub-divided into four rooms and accommodates up to 2,000 people for a general session. For more information, call 318.841.4000 or visit www.shreveportcenter.com.