Ice in Bloom and hot air balloon launches: What to do in the Twin Cities this weekend

Here's a list of events worth checking out this weekend:

🐶 Pet some pups at this weekend's Klondike Dog Derby in downtown Excelsior. Huskies are available for hugs Friday night before their big race around Lake Minnetonka on Saturday. Free.

🔭 The Bell Museum's Space Fest kicks off Friday night with a Mars viewing party (weather dependent). Stop by this weekend for a meet-and-greet with a retired NASA astronaut and a new Mars-themed planetarium show. Price varies.

🧊 Art in Bloom fans, listen up: The Minneapolis Institute of Art is opening Ice in Bloom on Saturday, a garden of over 500 ice flowers and sculptures outside the museum. On view until they melt. Free.

🚲 Find that one part you've been looking for at the Great Minnesota Bike Swap. Mechanics, collectors and casual bike enthusiasts will sell their wares in Prior Lake on Saturday. Free to shop.

🎈Over 30 hot air balloons will take flight from an elementary school parking lot at the Hudson Hot Air Affair this weekend. Launches are at 7:35am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Free.

⛷️ Cheer on skiers, snowshoers, fat tire bikers and more as they race across Theodore Wirth Park during City of the Lakes Loppet Winter Festival this weekend. Free to watch.

• Note: The festival's popular Luminary Loppet, where visitors walk, ski and snowshoe on a candlelit trail on Lake of the Isles, was delayed to Feb. 18.

🗓️ Last call for The St. Paul Winter Carnival and Great Northern Festival. Both wrap up on Sunday; this weekend's events include parades, scavenger hunts and a sauna village. Prices vary.