Top 5 Weekend: Valentine's / Galentine's Day Edition 💘

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Happy Thursday evening, friends! The Deep Freeze is finally loosening its icy grip on the Capital Region. Perfect timing for venturing out for some winter fun, like checking out the always impressive Ice Palace at the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival.

Got Galentine’s or Valentine’s plans? Hopefully, you’ll be warm wherever you go 😉 Check out our Top 5 Weekend Guide for the top spots to impress your date (or your besties).

Btw, Valentine’s Day only falls on a Saturday about once every 5–6 years, so make the most of it, you love birds ❤️‍🔥 

—Phat X. Chiem & Karley Sullivan

⭐️ 💅 There are numerous Galentine events taking place this week, but perhaps none like the Galentine’s Celebration at the New York State Museum. Billed as a “night of friendship and fun,” the event features mocktails, crafts, and an afterhours viewing of the exhibits, including “Barbie: A Cultural Icon.” Guests will explore various stations throughout the museum to make their own cupcakes, bath bombs, candle holders, and friendship bracelets. Fri, 6–8:30p, $30 (registration required).

Btw, our friends at Undrunk Club are doing a ticket giveaway for this event!

⭐️ 🍫 🍷 Bring your darling out to indulge in the best sips and sweets at the 2026 Albany Wine & Chocolate Festival. Sample from more than two dozen wineries and distilleries, and 50 other food vendors. Someone try the rum cake and let us know if it tastes as decadent as it looks. Sat, 1-4p & 5-8p, $45/per person.

💘 Do it differently. Check out our V-Day guide: 10 ways to ditch the pricey Valentine’s Day dinner in the Capital Region! (Expect some events to be sold out by now.)

⭐️ ☕️ Check out what the hype is all about when Qamaria Yemeni Coffee has its soft opening in Latham on Friday morning. Skip your standard Starbucks for something a lot more interesting. Yemeni coffee is bold and wine-like in its complexity, with a flavor profile that feels wild and spicy compared to American coffee. Doors open 9a, Fri, free to attend.

⭐️ 🦉 Night at the Discovery Center is your chance to experience the ecologically unique Albany Pine Bush Preserve with live animal interactions, historical re-enactors, games, storytelling and more! The evening features a 30-min walk to the overlook to view the pine bush at night (offered hourly). Fri, 4—7:30p, free.

⭐️ ❄️ Since 1897, Saranac Lake has gone all-in on the chilly season with its legendary ice palace and a full lineup of frosty fun. The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival is big, festive, and—best of all— totally free. The closing ceremony on Sunday includes a fireworks show. Meanwhile, the Lake George Winter Carnival runs through March 8, with tons of pay-as-you-go activities to keep the cold-weather vibes going. And out in Queensbury, West Mountain hosts its Fire on the Mountain on Saturday.

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THURSDAY

🍷 Paint a ceramic charcuterie board, enjoy wine, NA drinks, and light snacks at Context Collective’s Galentine’s Paint & Sip.

💐 This weekend, get to Canopy in Saratoga for their seasonal bouquet bar, sip sparkling wine and nibble on chocolate. Opening night party 4-8p on Thursday.

🎸Jam out at Slidin’ Dirty’s Groove Retreat when Rob Beaulieu teams up with his longtime musical companion keyboardist and singer Nick Landess.

FRIDAY

💃 Dance, sing, or jam your winter blues away at the 38th Annual Flurry Festival this President’s Day weekend.

💘 Femininomenon at Lost & Found presents a special Galentine’s Day sing-along, featuring your favorite emo hits.

🎤 If you’ve never been to PechaKucha Night at Opalka Gallery, you’re in for a treat. (What’s a PechaKucha, anyway?)

🧊 If ice bars are your thing, you’re in luck. Get to one of these cool hotspots this weekend:

• The Lodge at Schroon Lake’s Fire & Ice Weekend

• The Mill on Round Lake Fire & Ice Bar

• The Lagoon Ice Bar in Lake George

• Anthony’s by Romo’s Pizza Ice Bar

🎻 Get to Skidmore’s Zankel Music Center when Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect returns for its 18th season, premiering a new work by George Lewis. Oh, it’s also free!

🏳️‍🌈 Get to Refuge Troy for A Big Gay Kinky Market—we look but we don’t judge.

📚️ Relive your Scholastic dreams when The Book Hive puts on the Grown-up Book Fair at Helderberg Meadworks in Troy.

SATURDAY

🏃‍♂️ Couples that run together, stay together. Join Cap City Runners in front of Alias Coffee in downtown Albany at 7:45a for a bracing Valentine’s morning jog.

🛼 Make like a lovesick teenager again at Schenectady’s Rollerama for Friday Roll Call—Lovers & Friends Edition!

🐕️ Fur Baby Love Fest brings together cider, adorable pet photos, and giving back, at Nine Pin.

🎬️ What could be more romantic than watching “When Harry Met Sally” for Valentine’s Day?

🤣 Everything is a laughing matter at MopCo’s Couples Improv Workshop. Who knows? Maybe this will work out better for you than an expensive therapist!

❤️‍🔥 Bad Heart Burlesque and No Fun presents a “Troy is for Lovers,” an anti-Valentine’s Day dance party—because love is fake, eyeliner is real, and Troy belongs to the emotionally unstable 🖤

🎷 Get to Lark Street Tavern for Valentine’s night featuring live jazz, cocktails & something sweet 🍰 You can’t go wrong with that combo!

🎭️ Presented by Creative Action Unlimited, “Taking a Stand” is a staged reading of an original play that explores anti-racism activism, performed at the Arts Center of the Capital Region.

🎙️ The Albany Symphony performs works by Tchaikovsky, Mahler and more with mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan and baritone John Brancy, at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Sat-Sun.

⛸️ Get to Amsterdam’s Veterans Park for Winterfest, a family-friendly afternoon of ice skating, free hot dogs, burgers, s’mores and hot chocolate!

🎤 A Valentine’s date, but make it actually fun. Make them swoon at Lost & Found’s Valentine’s Day Karaoke Night.

SUNDAY

💘 Join hostess Typhoid Mary at Bard & Baker’s Heartbreak Hangover for a sassy brunch that will soothe your achy breaky heart post-V Day.

🐾 Reading the Secret Language of the Forest | We’re not sure what a “level 3 certified tracker” is, but Dan Yacobellis is one, and he’s going to take you on this fascinating walk through the Huyck Preserve. Registration required.

MONDAY

🖼️ The Albany Institute of History & Art is open this Presidents Day and visitors of all ages are invited to Family Free Day! Themed around its current exhibition—Blanche Lazzell: Becoming an American Modernist—the museum hosts hands-on artmaking, gallery tours, screenings, and more.

🎬️ The Kuumba Black Art and Film Festival at Proctors showcases short films from independent filmmakers throughout the African diaspora.

LOOKING AHEAD

Feb. 18: Lunar New Year Celebration at the Empire State Plaza (be sure to visit the Two Little Dumplings Popup here!)
Feb. 21: Saratoga Beer Summit
Feb. 25-Mar. 5: Saratoga Restaurant Week
March 8: Punk Rock Flea Market
March 14: The Egg’s Open House
March 21: Mushroom Dinner Experience at Indian Ladder Farms
July 17-18: Dave Matthews at SPAC (tix go on sale Feb. 20 at 10a)

Our music listings are now published separately on The 518 website. Click here.

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