Saturday, September 7

Woonsocket

• Northern Rhode Island Council on the Arts French Heritage Festival & Soiree; live music, dancing, entertainment, traditional foods, contests, vendors and much more for everyone. The festival will be held at River Island Park from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the Soiree will continue at Holy Trinity Parish from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Pawtucket

• Pawtucket Arts Fest: 20th annual Dragon Boat Race and Taiwan Day, free family event, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Festival Pier; River Bend East Songwriters Festival, noon to 7 p.m., Slater Mill, a diverse array of songwriters comes together on the grounds of historic Slater Mill for a day-long celebration of music.

Cumberland

• Heather Schey, president of the Greater Warwick Lions Club and a staff member at the Ocean State Center for Independent Living, will be discussing her experiences with having a service animal at the Cumberland Public Library at 2 p.m. For more, contact Aaron Coutu, president of the Cumberland/Lincoln Lions Club and assistant director of the library, at aaroncoutu@aol.com or 401-215-3279..

Wednesday, September 11 East Providence

• A talk on "Costs and Consequences of the Post-9/11 Years will be led by Dr. Neta Crawford at 7 p.m. at East Providence Public Library , 41 Grove Ave. Dr. Crawford is professor and chair of the Political Science Department at Boston University and co-director of the Costs of War Project at Brown University. Questions and answers will follow. The talk is sponsored by the East Bay Citizens for Peace, the East Providence Public Library and the Mission and Justice Ministry of the Barrington Congregational Church UCC. This event is free and open to the public. For more, contact info@eastbaycitizens4peace.org or 401-247-3004.