Austin is a red town. Always has been. From the words on the Hormel label to the uniforms worn by our Austin Packers athletes, we are red. Not maroon. Not burgundy. Not scarlet or crimson. Just simple, basic, no-doubt-about-it, primary-color red.
But this weekend, Austin will be several shades lighter.
We're pink — and we hope you are, too.
Last year, the Austin Bruins hockey team pulled off a real coup with its Paint the Rink Pink event, which brought more than 2,000 people to Riverside Arena — and raised more than $22,000 for cancer research at the Hormel Institute.
Building on that success, the Bruins are teaming up with the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. Paint the Rink Pink is now joined by a communitywide effort — Paint the Town Pink — that we predict will blow last year's fundraising total out of the water.
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Buy a pink doughnut this weekend and you'll be raising money to fight cancer. Ditto for pink beer, pink cupcakes, pink waffles, pink pancakes and pink Spam (OK, Spam is already pink, but you get the idea).
Attend a Packers girls basketball game. Have a drink at Torge's Live. Buy a T-shirt at Mickey's Place. Try your luck at an ice-fishing contest on Eastside Lake.
The list of businesses and sponsors that are embracing this event is enormous, and that's fantastic. A lot of people have worked very hard to ensure this event's success — so now it's time for residents of Austin and Mower County to turn out, cut loose and have a great time for a great cause.
We see no reason why Paint the Town Pink shouldn't become a much-anticipated annual event, one of those "Mark your calendars now" festivals that provide a much-needed break from the usual drudgery of winter in Minnesota.
So deck yourself out in pink and join the party.
