🌄 Foothills Scoop

👋 Hello Neighbours:
Hello Foothills! This weekend is serving up a mix of cozy community hangouts, live music, winter festivals, and a few “get out of the house” reasons that feel very February-in-the-Foothills. If you’re planning around Valentine’s Day, there are options for every vibe—sweet, silly, or “let’s just do something fun.”

✨ In Today’s Edition:
🏒 Winterfest fun + rink time in Diamond Valley
🎭 Interactive dinner theatre in Longview (all weekend)
🎶 Live music + a cheeky roller-skate Valentine’s night in Okotoks

🥇 Foothills athletes heading to the 2026 Alberta Winter Games
Okotoks, High River, Diamond Valley, and Foothills County will be well represented at the 2026 Alberta Winter Games, with a strong local contingent earning spots across multiple sports. It’s one of those feel-good reminders that our small towns consistently produce big talent. If you know someone competing, this is a great weekend to send a quick “good luck” message before the Games kick off. (And yes—expect some proud-parent posts to start popping up everywhere.)

🚧 Dunbow Road roundabout work is officially moving forward
Foothills County has awarded a construction contract for a Dunbow Road traffic circle, with work expected to start this spring. If you commute anywhere near that corridor, it’s worth flagging now—projects like this usually come with detours, lane changes, or temporary traffic control. The upside: once completed, it should help with flow and safety in a high-traffic spot. We’ll keep an eye out for the exact construction start dates and impacts as they’re posted.

🎭 Longview’s Twin Cities Saloon turns dinner into a mystery you help solve
If you’ve been craving a proper “night out” without driving into Calgary, Erratic Players’ interactive dinner theatre at the Twin Cities Saloon is the move. Raiders of the Lost Lemon Mine runs through the weekend with evening showtimes, and the whole point is that the audience (yep, your table) helps push the story forward with puzzles and choices. It’s part comedy, part mystery, part immersive experience—basically the opposite of scrolling your phone on the couch. Grab a crew, lean into the chaos, and make it a full Foothills-style adventure night.

• 💕🌿 Nature Fridays: Valentine’s Day — Fri, Feb 13, 2026, 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Environmental Education Centre (Okotoks).
Drop in to watch “Animal Valentines” videos and make a heart sun catcher—sweet, simple, and perfect for kids who love crafts and critters. Parents need to stay with their children while they’re in the Education Centre.

• 🛼💕 Valentine’s Day Roller Skating Party — Fri, Feb 13, 4:30–9:30 p.m., Okotoks Recreation Centre + Youth Centre.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day and one year of the new Youth Centre with family skate (4:30–7 p.m.) and youth-only skate (7:30–9:30 p.m.), plus games, crafts, a photobooth, and light refreshments. Skates (first-come, first-served) are provided by Biggie’s Roller Rink—bring your own if you can, sign the waiver, wear socks, and consider donating a non-perishable item to help “Fill the Skate” for the Okotoks Food Bank.

• 🍽️🎭 Raiders of the Lost Lemon Mine: Dinner Theatre — Fri, 5:30 p.m., Twin Cities Saloon (Longview).
Interactive mystery + dinner theatre = a wildly fun “do something different” night.

• 🎶🍻 Live Music: Fossil and Young — Fri, 7:00–10:00 p.m., Hub Town Brewing (Okotoks).
Big covers range + easy taproom vibes—this one’s built for a casual Friday night out.

• 🎣❄️ Kids Can Catch: Ice Fishing Day (Family Day Weekend) — Sat, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., Chain Lakes Provincial Park.
Bundle up and try ice fishing with mentors and pre-drilled holes—great “get outdoors” family plan.

• 🧊🎉 Winterfest 2026 — Sat, 1:00–4:00 p.m., Rotary Park (High River).
Classic winter games + maple taffy on snow—family-friendly and properly festive (weather dependent).

• 🏒📺 Olympic Winter Games Streaming (Drop-In) — Sat, 12:00–4:00 p.m., High River Library.
If you want a chill indoor plan with a community vibe, this is a cozy way to catch the Games.

• 🎨🍫 Valentine’s Paint Your Partner — Sat, 7:00–10:00 p.m., Hard Knox Brewery (Diamond Valley).
Paint, laughs, and a chocolate fountain bar—honestly a great date night or group night.

• 🍽️🎭 Raiders of the Lost Lemon Mine: Dinner Theatre — Sat, 5:30 p.m., Twin Cities Saloon (Longview).
Same immersive show, new night—perfect Valentine’s alternative if you hate crowded restaurants.

• ⛸️ Sunday Public Skate — Sun, 11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m., Oilfields Regional Arena (Diamond Valley).
Low-key winter fun—helmets required, and it’s an easy “get moving” plan for families.

• ⛸️ Family Skate (No Sticks, No Pucks) — Sun, 2:30–3:30 p.m., Scott Seaman Sports Rink (Diamond Valley).
A friendly, no-pressure skate session—great for kids who just want to loop the rink with friends.

• 🍽️🎭 Raiders of the Lost Lemon Mine: Dinner Theatre — Sun, 5:30 p.m., Twin Cities Saloon (Longview).
Wrap the weekend with dinner + a mystery you can actually influence (and brag about later).

Okotoks-area is looking pretty manageable for mid-February: Friday is partly sunny (~8°C), Saturday cools down (~5°C) with a chance of spotty snow showers, and Sunday stays mostly sunny (~6°C)—bundle up, but it’s not screaming “stay inside.”

🍫 Hot chocolate hunting in Okotoks — Okotoks is on the map for the Calgary Hot Chocolate Festival this month, and locals are already trading “best one so far” recommendations. If you’re doing a weekend walk anyway, it’s a fun little add-on mission.

That’s your weekend, Foothills. If you’ve got friends coming from out of town, forward this along and claim local-hero status. And if you spot a great event we missed, send it my way—Foothills Scoop is always better when the whole community feeds it.