Valentine’s Day is for lovers. For the past three decades in Baldwin City, it also has been for lovers of chocolate and art. The 29th annual Chocolate Auction will start at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Lumberyard Arts Center, 718 High St.

The event has served as a last-minute option to pick up gifts for significant others and a fundraiser for the local community art organization since former Baker University art department head Tom Russell and his wife, Alice Anne Callahan Russell, a Baker music professor, brought the auction to the community. The couple had witnessed a similar auction during a visit to Tom Russell’s son in South Dakota.

The tradition’s current manifestation traces to 2010 when the local arts council morphed into the Lumberyard Arts Center Board of Directors with the opening of the restored arts center. Lumberyard President Laura Dickinson said the annual auction continues to benefit from the willingness of local cooks and artists to provide the event with the results of their kitchen and studio talents. Available to the highest bidder Sunday will be drawings, paintings, ceramics, photographs, fabric arts, woodworking, stained glass, as well as pies, cookies, candies, fresh flowers and other gifts for Valentine’s Day. All proceeds benefit the Lumberyard Arts Center Scholarship Fund as well as other Arts Center activities throughout the year. Different items will be offered at a children’s auction and silent auction starting at 12:30 p.m. At 2 p.m. the live auction will start with auctioneer Lester Edgecomb running the ring.

Those with treats or art to donate for the auction can deliver them to the Lumberyard from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

When he planned Saturday’s Family Fun Night, Eudora Parks and Recreation Director Gary Scott assumed there would be cold weather on the mid-February date.

“There’s going to be record-breaking high temperatures,” he said. “We thought there would be cool weather, everybody would be ready to get out of the house. That’s OK. It will be a good night of free family entertainment.”

The two hours of planned activities should still be attractive to Eudora families, Scott said. The evening will start with a 35-to 40-minute performance from Olathe magician Eric Vaughn, he said. When that concludes, the gymnasium will be opened for the rest of the evening. Scott said gym activities will include bounce houses, games, balloon making, face painting and free hot dogs, snacks and drinks.

Eudora’s restaurant options shrank with the recent closing of the Cosmic Ale House and Grill, 601 E. 10th St., and the Fork, 826 Main St. The latter location may not be closed for long. Assistant to the City Manager Leslie Herring said the city has fielded calls for several parties interested in the location on the south end of downtown. Mellissa Dake and Matthew Houser opened the Fork in March 2016 after being aided by a $3,000 downtown grant from the city.

Baldwin City Chamber of Commerce and the city government will give residents the opportunity to learn more and voice opinions on economic development issues at Last Wednesday gatherings planned for the next three months. Chamber Executive Director Jeannette Blackmar said there would be three “civic engagement opportunities” from 8 to 9 a.m. the last Wednesday of February, March and April at Homestead Kitchen and Bakery, 719 Eighth St. The gatherings will start with an about 15-minute presentation from a city staff member, followed by a chance for citizens to express their thoughts on topics. Drinks and snacks will be available at the meetings, Blackmar said.

The first session with be Feb. 22 and start with a state-of-the-city address from City Administrator Glenn Rodden. City Community Development Director Ed Courton will speak March 29 on city development incentives, and Rodden and Courton will speak April 26 on “What is Growth?”