You have to close the string with something like ". ."
Like this:
echo " <div id=\"container7\">
<div id=\"contenttopcolumn\">
</div>
</div>
<div id=\"container7\">
<div id=\"contentbottomcolumn\">
<h3> {$eventlist['title']} | {$eventlist['location']}</h3></a>
{$eventlist['date']}
<p>
{$eventlist['date']}
".substr($eventlist['description'], 0, 40)."
</p>
</div>
</div>
";
Should also be noted that your HTML is invalid, closing </a>
with no opening anchor tag