The seventh annual Jazz & Juleps event, which creates scholarships for the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, will be held Thursday, May 26, at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock.

Jazz & Juleps  annually celebrates Better Speech and Hearing Month in May.

This year’s event includes mint juleps, beer, wine, soda, heavy hors d’oeuvres, and live music by Mojo de Jazz. Doors open at 6 p.m., and a live auction will begin at 7:30 p.m., with the event continuing until 8:30.

This will be the first year Jazz & Juleps will feature both live and silent auction items. The live auction with Craig O’Neill will include art by Jack East, as well as a private dinner for 10 in the home of Scott and Libby Davis with Chef Peter Brave, a tamale and tequila family style dinner for 12 at Big Orange, and a vacation in Las Vegas at the Hilton Grand Vacations hotel Elara. More than 30 items will be available during the silent auction.

Funds raised create an endowed scholarship in the name of the event’s honorees, which will be awarded to Audiology and Speech Pathology students. Last year, 11 Jazz and Juleps scholarships were awarded.

The event will honor Lynn Coates and her daughter, Caroline Coates-Nelson. Coates is an advocate who sought every resource for knowledge and assistance when when she learned her daughter was born with severe hearing loss.

Coates joined the UALR Speech and Hearing Clinic, served as executive director for eight years at the Arkansas Association for Hearing Impaired Children, and was elected to serve on the parent section of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Coates assisted many families through her initiatives, including the program at Camp Aldersgate for oral hearing impaired children and the Whitney Derrick Lending Library.

Tickets are $50, of which $30 is tax deductible, and will be available at the door. Tickets can be ordered online. For more information or sponsorship opportunities, please contact Leah Thorvilson at lmthorvilson@ualr.edu or 501.683.7501.