5 Things: The O's Are Back in Town Sunday

1. The boys are back in town on Sunday. The Baltimore Orioles' first day of Spring Training starts with Pitchers and Catchers Day at Ed Smith Stadium. Workouts will last from 9:15 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m. Practices and workouts are free and open to the public. The full squad will join them on Feb. 24. The Orioles' first home game is March 5 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at 7:05 p.m. It is a split squad game with other players traveling to Port Charlotte for a 1:05 p.m. match against the Tampa Bay Rays.

2. Ringling Museum's new and expansive exhibit, Peter Paul Rubens: Impressions of a Master opens today. The Rubens Galleries inside Ringling's Searing Wing feature pieces on loan from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, the Belgian city where the 16th and 17th Century Flemish Baroque artist lived.

3. Soprano singer Dina Cancryn, a Metropolitan Opera Regional Audition finalist, will be at the First United Methodist Church at 2 p.m. performing spiritual songs and Broadway numbers as well. Cancryn is also the author of "Portraits, The First Black America Divas of Song and Opera." Admission is a $10 ticket donation. The church also invites the community at 1:15 p.m. that day to see its new Courtyard Prayer Garden. Tickets are available at the door or at www.firstsrq.com.

4. The wrecking ball is coming into town on Tuesday when the former Sarasota Police Station, 2050 Ringling Boulevard, will see the beginning of its final days. The station will be demolished over the next 60 days. 

A slight increase in truck traffic and noise in the area should be expected, with work occurring Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. The contractor will spray the demolition area with water to help keep dust to a minimum.

Built in the 1950’s, the Sarasota Police Station served police officers, administrative staff and the public until 2010 when the current SPD Headquarters opened adjacent to it. The old building lacked space and had become antiquated.

5. Ethan Smith, co-producer of the feature films “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” (2010) and the sequel “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules” (2011) will speak to students at Alta Vista Elementary School on Tuesday. Smith will meet with students in grades three, four and five about the process of film-making and how he helped bring the best-selling book in Jeff Kinney’s popular series of young-adult novels to the screen.