Love was the air in Lethbridge.

Last weekend a variety of Valentine’s Day activities were held around the city for people of all ages. From crafts to music, everyone had the opportunity to celebrate romance.

On Saturday, Feb. 11, the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra presented its fourth annual Love Notes Valentine’s Ball at the Coast Hotel and Conference Centre.

“It’s our fourth annual and we’ve been quite successful with each year of our event. It seems to be an event that people enjoy coming to dance with the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra,” says Dawn Leite, general manager.

After looking at the calendar and other events around the community, Leite decided tying in the orchestra with Valentine’s Day celebrations was a perfect fit. The event included a dance and dinner catered by LA Chefs, as well as a silent and live auction.

“Those who attend have the chance to bid on the opportunity to conduct O Canada at an upcoming symphony concert. So that’s always a unique item we have on our auction that you can’t get anywhere else,” says Leite.

Planning stages for the Valentine’s Day typically begin a year in advance.  Leite says the event’s date has been set for the next five years and is always part of the orchestra’s annual calendar.

“Every year we try to make it bigger and better than the year before, and we try to delight and surprise our patrons,” explains Leite.

Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra wasn’t the only organization to host a similar event this weekend. On Saturday the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Chamber and Jazz Choirs held their yearly Sweetheart’s Ball.

The event featured performances by both choirs and the Lethbridge Big Band, with a single ticket costing $50.

“The proceeds go towards to the chamber choir. A lot of it deals with the cost of running the choir,” says Bonnie Mendan, choir manager. “The school pays some, but the budget for fine arts isn’t very big for the school district. It also pays for the travel costs when they’re in competitions.”

Attendees were served a roast beef dinner, presented entirely by choir members and their parents.

“It’s not catered. We make all the food ourselves, but sometimes we get donations. This year the potatoes are donated, sometimes the meat is. Putting on the meal is quite a big deal,” says Mendan.

The event also featured various prize giveaways.

“In the past we’ve done silent auction but we chose not to do that this year. Instead, we had over 50 prizes that have been donated from the community,” says Mendan. “One event sold helium balloons for $5. After all the balloons were sold, they were popped to find out what prize was inside.”

Despite the fact the event didn’t fall on Feb. 14, Mendan says they are still satisfied with ticket sales.

“We’ve had to work hard at generating sales this year. I think it works better when it lands on Valentine’s Day,” Mendan says. “Once we got the word out, we found that anyone who was familiar with the chamber choir, or has participated in the past jumped on board to get tickets.”

Mendan explains that putting on an event of this size requires many hours of work from all those involved.

“The average parent volunteers a minimum of 10 hours and up to 100 hours or 200,” she says. “Each parent is required to not only sell tickets, but to serve at the banquet or help in the back.”

The choir has 44 members who are currently fundraising for their annual trip, this year travelling to Whistler.

“This trip is small in comparison to the trips taken in the past, because they’re rebuilding. The last trip they went on was travelling through Europe. Three years ago they were invited to go sing at the Vatican and at Carnegie Hall. Between the last three last trips, it has kind of drained the account,” laughs Mendan.

According to Mendan, the LCI Chamber and Jazz Choirs have been hosting the Sweetheart Ball for the last 15 years.

On Feb. 10, students were invited to get into the Valentine’s Day spirit at the Crossing Branch library on the West side of the city. Teens in grades 6 – 12 participated in an afternoon of making valentines and decorating sugar cookies, all supplies were provided by the library.

Paige McGeorge, teen program co-ordinator for the Lethbridge Public Library, says the program is open to any teenagers in Lethbridge and area.

“We do programs here or downtown at the main branch every single Friday afternoon, unless it’s a holiday. We used to do just one program a month, but with the opening of the Crossings and I became a full-time to the library, we moved to hosting programs every week,” explains McGeorge.

Program participation is generally consistent at both locations.

“We usually get about 10 students. Depending on what we’re doing, if we’re doing video games that week it’ll be a little higher. It depends on what catches their interest and what else is going on,” McGeorge says. “The programs during the summer are pretty much the same in terms of their attendance.  It’s quite solid for the entire calendar year.”

The program began about five or six years ago, when the library started to focus more on providing for teens. They built up their collection of books, movies and music for teens.

“With the opening of this branch, located between two high schools, we’ve been focused on offering to that age group even more,” says McGeorge.  “We installed some Wii consoles and a PS3 console in the teen area on the West side for them to play whenever they drop in.”

When it comes to planning activities McGeorge relies on input from teens themselves.

“I have a teen advisory group and they help me once every two months come up with programs for the upcoming months. So we just met last week to plan for March and April,” says McGeorge.  “They’ll come up with ideas; suggest which movies we should watch or what types of programs or activities we should do, crafts or video games we should play.”

McGeorge and her advisory council cover a variety of different topics at the afternoon program.

“At the start of March we’re doing an improv workshop and that was one they were really interested in. So I tracked down someone who actually teaches. If it’s something outside of normal programs, I can usually track someone down who’s willing to do that for us,” she explains.

The library has recently set up a Facebook and Twitter account.

“We’re trying to expand our message that way, it’s a good for me to reach that age group,” says McGeorge.

 

Photo by Paige Murray – Rebecca Maier (left) and Brooklyn Hrycuik decorate cards for their grandparents at the Crossings Branch Library on Feb. 11.