Austin is gearing up to paint the town pink in February.

The Austin High School teams have started their pink events and fundraising for the cause to find a cure. It is a great feeling when you walk in to a gym that is splashed with pink and see both teams supporting the fight.

There are several ways to find the events that you would like to participate in or go to watch. There is a link on our city website: www.ci.austin.mn.us. Scroll down and click on the Paint the Town Pink logo. The big Bruins’ Paint the Rink Pink game that started this successful effort is at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22. Buy your tickets early before they are sold out.

We will offer adult open hockey at Packer Arena on Wednesdays, through Feb. 5 from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. The dates could be extended if we have enough participation. Participants must be at least high school age, and the cost is $6 per session. Goalies are free but must have full gear.

Summer will be here before we know it, so dig out those skis and check out the trails at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. You can rent skis. Adults are $6 and snowshoes are $5. Children 18 and under are only $1 for 3 hours.

There will be open skating from 4:45 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and Feb. 5. The cost is $4 to skate and $1 to rent skates if you don’t have your own. The last two weekends in January, Austin is host to two youth hockey tournaments at Packer Arena.

The outside ice rink warming houses at Kaufman Park (Eighth Street and 11th Avenue Southeast) and Galloway Park (Eighth Street and Second Avenue Southwest) are open. Kaufman is open daily from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Galloway is only open Friday, Saturday and Sundays from 6 to 9 p.m., and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Ice rinks may be used during daylight hours when the warming houses are not open.

For those youth grades five to 12 in Mower County, stop in and check out the Youth Activity Center, which is located in the east rooms of Riverside Arena.

During no-school days we will open at 1 p.m. All activities are free and supervised. We have pool tables, air hockey, DDR, “Guitar Hero,” Wii, PlayStation 3, high-speed Wi-Fi and a computer lab, large-screen TVs, and the list goes on. As a treat, there is always free popcorn to snack on. Grab some of your friends and stop in to check it out.

Austin boy’s hockey will host Mankato East at Riverside Arena on Thursday with the junior varsity game starting at 5:30 p.m. and varsity at 7:30 p.m. The girls will host Winona at 1 p.m. on Feb. 1.

The Austin Bruins will be at home starting at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday.