Mayoral and council candidates will square off in the first two planned forums next week, leading up to the Oct. 21 civic election.

On Wednesday, both council hopefuls and mayoral candidates will be on the hot seat at the Golden Circle (4620 47A Ave.) starting at 6:30 p.m.

The 30 council hopefuls are expected to answer questions until roughly 8 p.m., before the five mayoral candidates are in the spotlight. The forum runs until 9 p.m.

Starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Red Deerians will hear from the five mayoral candidates in a forum at the Snell Auditorium in the downtown branch of the Red Deer Public Library. The forum will include platform presentations by each mayoral candidate, followed by a question and answer period.

The forum will be streamed online at http://www.rdpl.org/programs/live. Voters can tweet questions at @rdpl for the candidates on Twitter before and during the debate.

The library will also be hosting weekly “Twitbates” until Election Day using #voteRD to tag election-related tweets.

The evening wraps up at 9 p.m.