Please join us on Sunday, April 19, for the annual Lao New Year’s Service at the Wat Lao Buddhist Temple on East Park Ave. The event will include a “Tak Bat,” in which lay members of the temple donate “alms” to their Buddhist monks; this food later comes back to the community “blessed.” The service includes a washing of the temple’s Buddha statues, as well as a ritual sprinkling of water on the congregation, both of which symbolically remove any evil and wrongdoing from the previous year. Guests are invited to stay beyond 11am for a short parade, a long meal, and many other festivities.