While Americans willingly cut their spending on upscale restaurants during the Great Recession, their pets continued to dine on gourmet meals.

A Strawberry Festival will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. today at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6462 Ridge Road in Sharon Center.

Brew House - Cassie emcees karaoke at 10 tonight at 244 N. Water St., Kent.

KENT: The Robinson Memorial Hospital Foundation’s 19th Annual “A Different Kind of Golf Outing” will take place on Weds., July 17 at Windmill Lakes Golf Course in Ravenna.

Kevin Costner has been spotted in the area lately while he acts in Draft Day, the movie shooting locally, with Costner as the general manager of the Cleveland Browns.

KENT: Peace activist Cindy Sheehan and the Tour de Peace will appear in Kent at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Akron’s Hungarian-American Club is inviting the public to help celebrate its 90th anniversary from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday at the club, 694 E. Waterloo Road, Akron.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Summit County awarded its Community Recognition Award in May to the city of Barberton and its leaders for establishing a Mental Health Court and because the school district sponsored a suicide prevention workshop.

RAVENNA: On June 15, the Portage Animal Protective League will hold its Hogs & Dogs Poker Run benefit again. Motorcycles and even cars are welcome.

KENT: Downtown Kent was home of a cultural arts gathering on Friday afternoon as Standing Cultural Arts and Space 2 Do Productions put on “The Picnic,” according to the Record-Courier.

KENT: The Christ Episcopal Church in Kent is holding a mass at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Third Mountain Music Mass, a morning service featuring worship music played by the Holy Moses String Band, an old-time Appalachian-style band. 330-256-8994.

KENT: Louis Markos, a J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis scholar and professor of literature at Houston Baptist University, will speak June 15 and 16 in Kent and Cuyahoga Falls.

Dogs and cats have consumed living, raw meats for thousands of years. Cats eat mice and we don’t rush them to the vet, nor do we get excited when it happens and call the poison control center.