Week of Feb. 11-17

Welcome to our "What's Happening" email, designed to provide you with a glance at opportunities for an unbridled good time in the Bowling Green area.

Love is in the air! There's lots of ways to celebrate Valentine's Day with your sweetheart besides the usual romantic dinner with wine and a bouquet. Several places around Bowling Green are offering a unique Valentine experience this year. Take a break from the usual dinner plans for a hearty home-cooked Sweetheart Dinner at Boyce General Store on Feb. 14. The meal includes roasted chicken or steak with a side salad, oven roasted vegetables and a dessert made from scratch (reservations required). Call 270-842-1900 or visit http://www.facebook.com/BoyceGeneralStore for more.

Looking for hands-on Valentine fun? Stop by the Capitol Arts Center for a workshop on creating your own wooden heart. Make a one-of-a-kind Valentine at 6pm on Feb. 14 for $10. For more information, call 270-904-1880 or visit www.theskypac.com.

For those of you spending Valentine's with the kids, the Warren County Public Library is hosting a Cupid Shuffle Party at 3:30pm on Feb. 14 at the Graham Drive Community Branch. For details, call 270-781-1441 and visit www.warrenpl.org. Or maybe you'd rather go to the Valentine Princess Tea Event at 2:30pm on Feb. 17 at the Christ Episcopal Church Fellowship Hall. For more, call 746-2300 or visit facebook.com/BghsChoralActivities.

This weekend is Honeymooner's Weekend at Barren River Lake State Resort Park. Valentine activities for couples are taking place every day with a karaoke contest Friday night, the "Not-so-Newlywed Game" on Saturday afternoon and a couples buffet dinner and dancing at the Driftwood Restaurant Saturday night. For more please call 800-325-0057 or visit www.parks.ky.gov.

The newest show at WKU's Hardin Planetarium opens this Tuesday! Titled "Two Small Pieces of Glass," the show gives audiences an experience combining a 360-degree immersive "full dome" movie with interactive demonstrations introducing how telescopes help us learn of our place in the cosmos. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 24. Admission is free and the 40-minute program is suitable for all ages. Note that the show will begin on time, with no late entrance permitted.

The movie follows two teenage students who attend a star party. While looking through the astronomer's telescope, the students, along with the planetarium audience, explore Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings, spiral structure of galaxies and how the largest observatories in the world use these telescopes to explore the mysteries of the universe. For more information, please call 270-745-4044 or visit the link below.

To view the complete calendar of upcoming events, visit our Events section here.

All phone numbers are area code 270 unless otherwise noted.

Ongoing- Feb. 16 Hands of the Hill Exhibit, Capitol Houchens Gallery, featuring handmade furniture, 782-2787, call for hours, theskypac.com

Ongoing- Feb. 24 $6 Sundays, admission to tourist attractions for locals, included are: Diamond Caverns, Dinosaur World, Historic Railpark & Train Museum, Kentucky Down Under, Lost River Cave

Ongoing- March 15 Harry Underwood: Life's Big Sequel, SKyPAC Main Gallery, 904-5000, call for hours, theskypac.com

Ongoing- March 29 WKU Gallery Show "Witness: Photographs of a Nation Divided," WKU Mass Media and Technology Hall, M-W 9am-9pm, Th-F 9am-5pm, Sun 3-6pm, collection of civil war photography, historic information, re-creation of Matthew Brady's exhibition of Antietam, 3D image reproductions, 745-4144

Ongoing- April 30 History of the Capitol Exhibit, Capitol Arts Mezzanine Gallery, community artists look back at the history of the Capitol Arts Center, 782-2787, call for hours, theskypac.com

Ongoing- May 5 "Moneyville," National Corvette Museum, interactive exhibition, 781-7973, corvettemuseum.org

11 Game Day & Card Party, Eloise B. Houchens Center, 9am-4pm, $13 tickets include snacks, hot lunch and prizes, 842-6761

11 Carmina Burana, Orchestra Kentucky VIP Series, SKyPAC, 7:30pm, 846-2426, orchestrakentucky.com

12-March 24 "Two Small Pieces of Glass," WKU Hardin Planetarium, Tues/Thurs 7pm, Sun 2pm, experience a 360-degree immersive full dome movie, interactive demonstrations about telescopes, 745-4044, wku.edu/physics/hardinplantetarium

12 Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras Party, 440 Main/Micki's, 9pm, music by Bhrett Puckett Trio, 793-0450, 440main.com

12 Patt Carr and Mary Ellen Miller of the Cabin Fever Speaker Series, Warren County Public Library Main Branch, 6pm, no ticket required, authors of "The Radiance of Fossils" and "The Poet's Wife Speaks," 781-4882, warrenpl.org

14 Spring 2013 Speaker Series: "Alpine Expedition to Peru," Barnes & Noble, 7pm, Dr. John All of WKU's Dept. of Geography and Geology and Clinton Lewis the University Photographer, presented by the WKU Libraries, 745-6121, wku.edu/library

14-15 Mammoth Cave Symposium: Celebrating the Diversity of Research in the Mammoth Cave Region, Mammoth Cave National Park, free, over 60 presentations covering educations and social science research, 24 universities and 5 gov't agencies, 758-2422

14-17 Dinosaur World special, Bring your sweetheart for free on Valentine's Day weekend, adult-only special, one adult free with a paid adult admission, 773-4345, dinosaurworld.com

15 Spell-a-Bration, Sloan Convention Center, food, music, silent auction, costume contests, commed.us, 842-4281

15 Bodeans, The Warehouse at Mt. Victor, 8pm, $40 reserved table seating and $25 seats, 904-6677, thewarehouseatmtvictor.com

16 Kentucky 4-H Livestock Skillathon Contest, WKU Ag Expo Center, 8:30am, 745-3976, wku.edu/expo

16 Bucky Covington, feat. Kyle Whitaker and Katie Armiger, SKyPAC, 7:30pm, 904-1880, theskypac.com

17 Saxophone Traditions, WKU FAC Recital Hall, 3pm, free, 745-3751, wku.edu/music

17 Bridal Fest Winter Expo, Sloan Convention Center, 12-4pm, $10 tickets, pre-register online to receive one free ticket, portion of proceeds go to Sweet Blessings Cakes, 308-0059, bridalfestbg.com

February 18 Extreme Lego Day Camp, National Corvette Museum

February 19 DRUMLINE Live, SKyPAC

February 20 WKU Lady Toppers Basketball vs. Louisianna-Monroe, E.A. Diddle Arena

February 20 An Evening of Schubert's Chamber Music, WKU FAC Recital Hall

February 21, 23-24, 28 Bowl for Kids Sake, Southern Lanes

February 21 A Chorus Line, Broadway Series, SKyPAC

February 21 WKU Men's Basketball vs. ULM, E.A. Diddle Arena

February 22 Maple Syrup Festival, Federal Grove Bed & Breakfast

February 22 Barn Dance, Chaney's Dairy Barn

February 23 KHSAA Competitive Cheer Championships, EA Diddle Arena

February 23 Kidz on Stage, Capitol Arts Center

February 23 The Symphony Soiree "Baby, It's Cold Outside," Carroll Knicely Center

February 24 Hospice Chocolate Festival, Sloan Convention Center

February 25 Experience The Beatles with RAIN, SKyPAC

February 28- March 3 The Pirates of Penzance, Van Meter Hall

March 1 Kathleen Madigan, SKyPAC

March 1 US Bank's Celebration of the Arts Vernissage Party, Kentucky Museum

March 1-3 Home Expo 2013, Sloan Convention Center

March 2 Penguin Plunge, Sloan Convention Center

March 2 L&N Railroad Luncheon, South Union Shaker Village Tavern

March 2 Disco Fever, Orchestra Kentucky Retro Series, SKyPAC

March 2 Southern Kentucky Team Penning Association Club Show, WKU Ag Expo Center

For your convenience, a bulletin board of events and a full brochure rack are located on the front porch of the Visitors Bureau if you need information when the main office is closed.