A Sloppy Loppet and celebrate the eelpout: Your weekend planning guide
Take part in a tipsy winter field day or celebrate a not-so-pretty fish this weekend.
From free events to family fun to adults-only, here's a roundup of events to get you out of the house.
Free: Ice, ice, baby
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Hit up not one, not two, not three but seven ice bars in Rochester this weekend at SocialICE.
The event at downtown's Peace Plaza features 12-foot ice bars, each showcasing a signature drink, a Walk of Ice sculpture garden, music and more.
For families: Stay inside the lines
Coloring books are all the rage these days, so why not hop on the bandwagon and see what it's all about?
Kids ages 6 and up and their caregivers are invited to join Inside the Lines Coloring Club Saturday morning at the Roseville Library.
Supplies will be provided but attendees are welcome to bring their own. Limited to 25 participants on a first-come, first-served basis.
For adults: A tipsy winter field day
The Sloppy Loppet is out of hibernation for a second tipsy winter field day at Como Dockside in St. Paul.
Sloppeteers will put their cold-weather mettle — and ability to stay upright after indulging in a few drink specials — to the test in six challenges like the "Tug 'n' Chug," the "Beerathlon" and "Snocan Dash."
Buy your tickets ($19.98-$25.26) in advance — and may the best Sloppeteer win!
Note: Must be 21+; a valid ID is required at check-in.
Indoors: Best buds
Stop and smell the flowers at the "Timeless Beauty" orchid display at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska.
The display includes an 8-foot waterfall cascade of orchids, baskets of moth orchids and more.
Bonus: Sign up for an orchid photography class, where you'll be able to enjoy private, hands-on shooting time while using a macro lens.
Outdoors: Celebrating the eelpout
For nearly 40 years, crowds greater than 10 times the population of Walker, Minn., have gathered at Leech Lake for a festival named for a not-so-pretty bottom-dwelling fish, the eelpout.
Other events at the Eelpout Festival include eelpout curling, live music and a food tent featuring — what else — eelpout nuggets.