South Lake Tahoe’s Lakefront Wedding Chapel was recently featured on a special episode of NBC’s “Where are They Now” updating fans on past contestants from “The Biggest Loser” show.

Bernie Salazar, the At Home winner in Season 5, was married at the Lakefront Wedding Chapel in August.

Bernie Salazar and Jennifer Verastegui

“This is great publicity for the wedding business in South Lake Tahoe,” Jana Walker Spano, owner of the Lakefront Wedding Chapel, said in a press release. “The entire nation was able to visualize Lake Tahoe as the ultimate wedding location in the western United States.”

Salazar is a Chicago teacher who lost 130 pounds to win $100,000 on “The Biggest Loser” in 2008. He married Jennifer Verastegui in the Lakefront Chapel on the shores of South Lake Tahoe on Aug. 8. They met during tryouts for the show.

Through Dec. 19 Unity at the Lake is having its 17th annual Bear-A-Thon at the South Lake Tahoe Senior Center, 3050 Lake Tahoe Blvd. from 9-11:30am.

All are encouraged to bring a new bear to Sunday service to hug, cuddle and fill with special blessings and healing light. All the bears are donated to the SLT Women’s Center, SLT Fire Department, and El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department to be given to children who may be in need of some loving energy.

For more info, call (530) 544.2266 or visit www.unityatthelake.org.

The community is invited to buy a tree and shop for goodies to go under the tree at the Christmas in Tahoe: the Christ Kindle Mart.

The Optimist Club of South Lake Tahoe and the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce are partners in this project.

In addition to the Optimist tree lot, Santa, and music, many local businesses will be at the Christ Kindle Mart offering special gifts.

Visit the tents of the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, Napa Auto Parts, The Sportsman, Overland Meat, Sugar Pine Bakery, Steamers, Free Bird, South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, Business by Referral group, Tahoe Best Friends and more.

The Santa House will be available courtesy of the South Lake Tahoe Parks and Recreation Department.

The event is Dec. 10th from 3-9pm and Dec. 11 from 11am-9pm at the Optimist Tree Lot on Lake Tahoe Boulevard near El Dorado Beach.

The Optimist Club donates to youth groups on the South Shore. All proceeds will go to help the community.

For additional information, call (530) 544.7412.

Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News is looking for ideas for gifts that cost less than $20 to share with readers. Read this for details.

South Shore potter Barbara Wesson has small horsehair raku vases for sale for less than $20, as well as a few planter pots in that price range.

She describes her website as a bit rough, but several items are on it. Wesson may also be reached by calling (530) 577.2729.

• The Black Bear Inn in South Lake Tahoe is serving dinner Wednesday-Sunday. Reservations are mandatory.

• Red Hut Café at Ski Run Boulevard is offering dinner Thursday-Friday-Saturday.

• Bona Fide Books is seeking short fiction and nonfiction selections of 500 words or less for a Tahoe anthology. Subjects may range from the gritty to the sublime. Submissions will be open Jan. 1 through May 1. Send work to submissions@bonafidebooks.com or P.O. Box 550278, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96155.

• The Sierra Ballet Theatre Company will be performing Madeline’s Christmas at MontBleu in Stateline on Dec. 17 and Dec. 18 at 7pm.

• The Iron Girl triathlon is coming back to the South Shore for a second year. It will be in September again.

• Dirk Yuricich is having an open house Dec. 11-12 from noon-5pm at the gallery at 171 Shady Lane, Stateline.

Lake Tahoe Holidays has hundreds of ornaments and gifts under $20. It is locally owned and operated.

It boasts of featuring more local artists than any other store in the South Shore region, with 11 artists currently in the store.

Owners say shopping Lake Tahoe Holidays also supports the community over and over again because they donate throughout the entire year to many organizations year after year.

Items like these are available at Lake Tahoe Holidays.

The store is at 4000 Lake Tahoe Blvd., No. 29, South Lake Tahoe.

The Employee Association of the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is collecting donations of winter accessories such as mittens, gloves, hats, and scarves from employees and the public at the supervisor’s office near Al Tahoe Boulevard in South Lake Tahoe.

The donated items will decorate the lobby Christmas tree until Dec. 15, when they will be distributed to the South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center.

Drop off hand-knitted, new or gently used items at the supervisor’s office at 35 College Drive between 8am and 4:30pm Monday through Friday.

For more information, call (530) 543.2774.

• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing legislation that would allow poker games over the Internet.

• California Department of Fish & Game officials have ruled William Hunger acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a 500-pound bear last month inside Bacchi’s Inn Restaurant in Tahoe City.

• Fox and Hound on the top of Kingsbury Grade is having a grand reopening bash Dec. 11 starting at 3pm.

• Larkspur Hotels & Restaurants, a Bay Area-based hospitality company, is rebranding the Best Western Truckee Tahoe Lodge as Larkspur Hotel Truckee-Tahoe.

• The Reno-Tahoe Open is moving back to Aug. 4-7 so the golf tournament will not conflict again with the American Century Celebrity tourney in Stateline.

• U.S. Forest Service officials confirmed this month that two more red foxes — one male and one female — were photographed in September in Stanislaus National Forest. Sierra Nevada red foxes were thought to be extinct. The first confirmed sighting was in August in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest near Sonora Pass.

• South Lake Tahoe is having another tree lighting. This one at 5pm Dec. 8 at the Factory Stores at the Y.

Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News is publishing idea for gifts costing less than $20. Click here for information.

If you have friends or family who are hard to shop for, the Sugar Pine Foundation has a solution: Everyone loves sugar pines.

You can Adopt-a-Tree or Adopt-an-Acre in anothers name, or purchase quality gifts with the logo. All proceeds go directly toward planting more beautiful sugar pines in the greater Tahoe region.

Shop online.

Let the Tahoe Derby Dames help you with your gift shopping this season.

Through Dec. 12, Lake Tahoe’s only flat track derby league will be hosting its first online holiday auction, featuring a variety of gifts. The auction proceeds will help the Dames cover the cost of renting an indoor practice space this winter, since the outdoor track is under a few feet of snow through the spring.

Registration for the online auction site is free, and auction items can be paid for via major credit card or PayPal.