Whether you’re looking for a date this Valentine’s weekend or want to spend some quality time with your favorite little gal, Nikiski and Seward have you covered.

The Nikiski Community Recreation Center is hosting a sweetheart dance Friday night, urging fathers, brothers, grandpas and uncles to invite their little girls for a night of tunes.

Theresa Dendy, the shift supervisor at the center, said Wednesday that she’s looking forward to the dance.

“They did do it in the past for a couple years, and everyone really seemed to enjoy it,” Dendy said. “They were pretty bummed that we weren’t able to get it last year, so we’re excited to again this year for sure.”

She said there will be light refreshments and Valentine’s decor Friday night.

Tickets are $20 per duo or $5 for additional people, and are available in person at the rec center beforehand or at the door. To reserve tickets call 907-776-8800.

Then Saturday the Seward Chamber of Commerce, the Seward Prevention Coalition and the DVSA domestic violence community service agency are putting on a speed dating event.

Karen Cooper, the events coordinator at the Seward Chamber, said the sponsors wanted to host an event to encourage healthy relationships.

“One of the things that we have found in a lot of towns is that it’s kind of hard in the wintertime, you know, it’s cold (and) there’s not as many people,” she said. “People kind of either stick to themselves or they end up at the bar.”

Cooper said the newest census numbers showed that there are just under 4,000 adults in the greater Seward area, not even including Moose Pass, which prompted her to propose more social programs through the Chamber.

“There’s almost 4,000 adults here, so there’s no way that everyone knows everyone,” Cooper said.

The event will begin with general mingling, and then people will split into two rooms: one for romantic dating and one to make new friends. Cooper said the chamber will then facilitate a series of seven-minute round-robin speed chats.

At the end of the chats, participants will have the option to fill out a card with who they’d like to share contact information with. The chamber will connect mutual matches the next day.

“We just want to encourage people to kind of push themselves a little bit out of their comfort zone to go out and meet people,” Cooper said.

The speed dating starts at Temple Studios in Seward at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Preregister for the free event at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScl2jlVzeRSEtLldplck4KblVVFM-vNo3a1wIUCXuZ5eqDR1w/viewform.

Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.