Paint the Town Pink kick-off was held at Business After Hours at the Hormel Institute on Tuesday, Jan. 8. With this year’s campaign “Every Dollar, Every Cancer, Every Person Matters.”

There are always many public events to attend. Mark your calendar for Plunging for Pink, which takes place at 12:30 p.m. at East Side Lake on Saturday, Jan. 26. Not registered yet? Go online at www.plungingforpink.com to get started. Registration will start at 11:30 a.m. on site so get there early to sign waivers, etc.

Did you know you could be a sponsor? There are several options for that too and you can see those on the site as well. Following the plunge there will be a Post Plunge Celebration starting at 3:30 p.m. at the Austin Eagles. There will be an awards ceremony for the plungers, raffle prizes, silent auction, music, beverages and food. Proceeds going to the Hormel Institute to benefit cancer research.

What you may not know: All the dollars raised during this Paint the Town Pink campaign are used as seed dollars to receive larger grants benefiting research working to find cures to not only breast cancer but other cancers.

Some of the other upcoming larger community events are: Paint the Air Pink on Feb. 1 with the KAUS Radiothon, Paint the Rink Pink is 7:05 p.m. on Feb. 2; 7:05 p.m. at Riverside Arena, Fishing for a Cure at noon on Feb. 9 at East Side Lake, Smashin’ for Cancer Demo Derby and YMCA 5k on Feb. 10, at Mower County Fairgrounds.

There are many other events that you may enjoy. To find which events interest you go to the Hormel Institute site at www.hi.umn.edu and Click for Pink at the top of the page. This will take you to a calendar of events. Thank you to all that support this campaign.

Austin activities

Did you know that there are several websites that list activities happing in Austin? Discover Austin at www.austinmn.com, Austin Area Chamber at www.austincoc.com, Austin Arts Center at www.austinareaarts.org.

If you want to check out Park and Recreation, the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center or the Austin Public Library go to www.ci.austin.mn.us, the City of Austin and click “Departments.” There are many ways to be involved in our great community. Go with your passion, ask questions and jump in.

Parks and Rec job

As we all wait for summer to get here it is never too early to apply for that summer job.

Park and Recreation has many part-time job opportunities for ages high school and up. Are you retired and looking for something to get you outside? We may have something for you.

We will have job openings in park maintenance, municipal pool positions, gardener position and recreation positions. Within the recreation position we will be hiring a summer recreation assistant position. Always check our city web page at ci.austin.mn.us for the employment information.

MLK Jr. Day

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. City offices which includes the Jay C. Hormel Interpretive Center will be closed.

Packer Arena

Packer Arena public skate dates: noon to 2 p.m. today and 2:30-3:45 p.m. Sunday.

The next two weekends there are tournaments. Watch for times for Feb 8, 9 and 10. These are also posted on our Facebook page. Having a birthday party or getting your friends and family together — rent the arena. Call our office for times at 507-433-1881.

Riverside Arena

Riverside Arena game schedule: The Austin Bruins next home game is Feb. 2 for Paint the Rink Pink. Get your tickets early.