With a name like ‘Loveland’, this Colorado town was destined to become the face of the world’s most romantic holiday.
Just an hour north of the state’s capital, Denver, Loveland is to Valentine’s Day what the North Pole is to Christmas. For the past 75 years, this aptly named town has been the epicentre of the world’s most romantic date, February 14.
If we take it way back, the day we all know as Valentine’s Day was once a ‘holiday’ based on the Roman festival of Lupercalia. Historically, the festival celebrated the impending arrival of spring and included the (outdated) tradition of ‘fertility rites’: the pairing of women to men by lottery. Thankfully, the meaning of Lupercalia changed at the end of the 5th Century when it became what we know it as today, ‘St Valentine’s Day’. Celebrated annually on February 14, Valentine’s day is now the biggest public show of affection on the calendar.
If you’re the type to go all Cupid on the day, it’s time to get your draw pin out and locate Loveland on the world map. (So forget Paris!)
Come February; the city transforms itself into a mecca for the romantic. Along with the heart-shaped light installation in Chapungu Sculpture Park, limited edition Valentine’s Day wine by Sweet Heart Winery, and love-themed, collaborative mural headed up by local artist Scott Freeman, Loveland plays host to a two-week-long Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt. Head out on the hunt to bring Dan Cupid, the angel of love, back before Valentine’s Day, and you could go into the draw to win the ultimate Loveland staycation experience.
For all the romantic type residing elsewhere, you can still have a slice of the Valentine’s pie with Loveland’s famed Valentine’s Day postal service.
For longer than your grandparents have been alive, the town has been accepting and re-mailing Valentine’s Day love letters with their own limited-edition Loveland stamp and love-tinged poem.
If you want in, post your letter by today(February 1), and your beloved Valentine could be the recipient of their very own love letter and poem, direct from Loveland itself. Go on, Cupid. You know you want to.
Simply write your letter and address it to your Valentine, stamp the letter (purchase the stamp here), place it in a larger, first-class envelope, and address it to ‘Postmaster – Attention Valentines, 446 E. 29th St. Loveland, CO 80538-9998’.
It’s the little things that mean the most…
Related reads: Gifts For Your Valentine, The Ultimate Travel-Lover
See more: United States
