Daily Herald editorial

Something good is turning into something even better. Last year’s wildly successful Paint the Rink Pink cancer research fundraiser is growing, and this year will be surrounded by a variety of other events designed to raise awareness about breast cancer, as well as raising some more dollars for research into a cure. It’s a fantastic development.

Last February, the Austin Bruins hockey team and the Hormel Institute partnered for the first awareness- and fund-raising Paint the Rink Pink. It was a smashing success and the talk of the town. The Rink event returns on Saturday Feb. 4, but it won’t be alone. The Austin High School girls are going to paint the gym pink for their game on Feb. 2, there will be a Fishing for A Cure event at East Side Lake on Feb. 4 and pink pancakes and Spam at St. Olaf Lutheran on Feb. 5. Several other events are also planned, with more to come.

The whole “pink” phenomenon is a fascinating example of how a good idea can catch on and become bigger than anyone every expected. But the best part is that a month from now there’ll be just about nobody in Austin who doesn’t know about the risks of breast cancer and the efforts under way to combat it.