Local radio station KRCU will host a Valentine's Day party themed "A Little Love & Luck" at the Isle Casino of Cape Girardeau on Friday.

Dan Woods is the general manager of KRCU 90.9/88.9 FM, a radio station located on Southeast Missouri State University's campus in the Serena Building. Woods said the event will be the first of its kind to be hosted by the radio station since its last Valentine's Day-themed event held about a decade ago. This year is the radio station's 25th anniversary as a National Public Radio station, so the management decided to bring back a Valentine's Day event to help celebrate and raise awareness for the station.

"We thought we'd do some fun things this year," Woods said. "This popped up as an opportunity, and so what we decided to do was to have fun with this."

Woods said the event had to be the Friday before Valentine's Day because the casino was unable to work the event in on the following Saturday. With this decision came the fear that people may be turned off by the fact that this particular Friday is Friday the 13th.

"When you hear Friday the 13th, you think of superstitions and bad luck and all that stuff, so what we did was, we decided to theme it 'A Little Love & Luck.' So love for Valentine's, luck for Friday the 13th. ... So that sort of was our inspiration," Woods said.

Woods said he expects the event to be "a big party night." He said the event will include a buffet provided by the casino, an open bar for a majority of the evening and a performance by Shades of Soul, a local cover band with 12 members, at least half of whom are graduates of Southeast.

"They're a huge draw; a lot of people love Shades of Soul," Woods said.

Bill Shivelbine, Southeast alumnus, saxophonist for Shades of Soul and owner of Shivelbines Music on Broadway in Cape Girardeau, said the band enjoys performing for special events or functions, so this event is a perfect fit.

Shades of Soul strictly is a cover band, and performs music from a variety of genres from 80s pop to Bruno Mars. For the event, the band will play a mix of popular music and love songs in honor of the holiday.

"It sounds like it's going to be a fun evening. ... I think there's a lot of value in it [the event] because they're going to put the Ritz on," Shivelbine said. "I think they're [the casino] going to do a very good job. ... We're certainly looking forward to it, that's for sure."

The proceeds from the event will go to fund station operations. Isle Casino and SoutheastHEALTH are sponsoring the event. Woods said the tie in for the hospital is the fact that February is also American Heart Month. He said there will be cardiovascular surgeons and staff members from the hospital there to present some information about heart health.

Woods said he is hoping this event will be a chance for members of the community who may not be aware of KRCU and the programming it offers to learn more about the station. He also said he wants the event to be an opportunity for people to relax and enjoy the evening.

"When we do our events throughout the year, and we'll do different concerts and different things, many times we use them as a chance to build awareness, and if we can, to raise some money," Woods said. "We do several different things to fund our operation, we do on-air fundraisers and we do these sort of things, so it's a chance to raise some money, build some awareness."

Woods said the casino was chosen to host the event because it is a newer facility that has been working to improve its community outreach in the Cape Girardeau area. He said that previously, the event had been hosted at the Arena Building or at the Osage Center, and this year the station chose to try something different.

"We're just trying to make it a come in, eat, dance, come with your friends, have a good time, celebrate and Valentine's is taken care of," Woods said.

"When we plan an event, we want it to be -- in this case, I want people to be able to get a ticket, to come and not have to worry about anything. Food's done, the set up done, the band is good, the music is good, the photo booth, just go do it, perfect. So that when they leave, Valentine's Day's been celebrated, everyone's had a good time and it's a worry free event for them," Woods said. "That's the idea. ... It should just be a fun thing and it should be just -- all you have to do is show up."

To honor Southeast graduates throughout the area, married couples with both individuals being alumni of Southeast will be recognized during the event, with a possible chance to win a prize. There will also be a free photo booth available for attendees to take photos as a keepsake of the evening.

"If it goes really well we're entertaining the idea of maybe bringing it back for several years and doing it again," Woods said. "... We want it to be successful, we want it to be fun, and people to have a good time, that's the goal."

KRCU's "A Little Love & Luck" will be from 6:30 p.m. to midnight on Friday in the banquet hall at the Isle Casino of Cape Girardeau. Tickets are $50 per person, and although ticket sales officially ended on Feb. 6, there may be some flexibility if there are remaining tickets. For more information about the event or to inquire about tickets, call (573) 651-5070.