Thirty shows. Five venues. Five days. Em Piro, founder of the St. Lou Fringe Festival, has upped the ante for the second annual extravaganza in midtown St. Louis, which will occur from Thursday, June 20 through Monday, June 24.

Northwestern Mutual’s mission is quite a lofty goal: To make the communities they serve the most financially secure in the world. “Given our success here in St. Louis, we’re trying to serve the community from both a client perspective and a charitable perspective,” says Gerard Hempstead, managing partner at the company’s St. Louis network office. His office has a goal of giving at least $500,000 in monetary donations and 5,000 hours of community service before 2015. “It’s actually stated in our vision and we track it,” he says.

The Date– October 20, 2012

The Date— November 3, 2012

Friends and family say that Megan McCarthy Strout and Ryan Emerson Maher were meant to be together—even if their paths often seemed to lead them apart.

When Chris Grimmig fell for Meredith Rull at her field hockey matches, he conspired with her teammates to take her on a date. “I got her number from her teammate and asked her to go to dinner,” he recalls. Luckily for Chris, Meredith said yes right away.

Big congrats go out to MATT SEITER, bar manager at Sanctuaria Wild Tapas in The Grove. His book, The Dive Bar of Cocktail Bars, is one of 10 semi-finalists for Best New Book at the Spirited Awards at the 2013 Tales of The Cocktail, which will be held in July in New Orleans. The list of finalists for the category will be released next month. Good luck!

The Date – December 31, 2012

Chef EDWARD FARROW has been tapped to oversee the kitchen at the soon-to-open Panorama Restaurant in the Saint Louis Art Museum's new East Building, set to debut this summer. Farrow is a CIA grad and a member of Slow Food and is known for his dedication to local purveyors. Most recently, he served as executive chef at the cafe of the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Az.

Working in family services at Bellerive Gardens, Jodi Wimmer is used to helping families through a time of grief. “We want to provide good service and help them find a nice resting place for their loved one in a time of need,” she says. But Wimmer urges families to think about burial plans before there is an immediate need, such as during estate planning. “We’ve had families tell us, I’m so glad my mom and dad picked out their marker. Everything is so nice for the family when they’ve done that—they can grieve without worrying, Did I do the right thing for Mom? Would she have liked that?”

Reliance Bank has turned over a new leaf. The personal and business banking institution recently emerged from major losses during the recession to become a profitable player ready to meet the community’s finance service and lending needs. And expansion is even in the works, with a new branch set for the prime intersection of Clayton Road and Lindbergh Boulevard.

Extremely rare pieces from one of the largest private collections of Alexander McQueen’s work are among those to be showcased in an upcoming exhibition at the World Chess Hall of Fame.