LOVELAND, Colo. — With only four days until Valentine's Day, a cupid crew in Loveland is hard at work making sure sweethearts around the world receive a special love note.
Every year, people from around the world send love letters to Loveland. Volunteers then dedicate weeks of their time to stamping each letter with a unique stamp and sending it back out to the intended recipient.
"We are a community of artists. So starting in September every year, we do a call to artists and commission them for the official Valentine card, the cachet, the cachet verse and the card verse," said Mindy McCloughan, Loveland Chamber of Commerce president. "We get submissions for a couple of months, and then we have a committee that goes through and reviews them."
This year marks the 79th season of Loveland's Valentine Re-Mailing Program. The city typically receives around 100,000 pieces of mail from all over the country.
This is Beverly Mortimer's 11th year volunteering with the program. She told Denver7 she keeps her weeks open so she can be a part of the stamping success.
"It makes it extra special because you get to send them to the people that don't know anything about it either," Mortimer said.
The Loveland Chamber of Commerce announces the winners for the different submissions during the first week of January. Corry McDowell's design was chosen for the 2025 cachet artwork, while the verse inside of it was written by Jeanne Perrine.
This was a major milestone for Perrine, who volunteered with the re-mailing program since 2007.
"This year my verse was picked for the cachet. I've submitted several over the years, and I was just lucky enough to be chosen this year," said Perrine.
Perrine and her dear friend, Joyce Boston, met each other through volunteering. Together, they sort through and stamp the "chunky monkey" mail, which tends to be letters filled with a little extra something.
McDowell told Denver7 she's found great joy in submitting her designs for consideration. She first submitted a design in 1995, which was chosen as the official 1996 Loveland Valentine.
"I think it was 1995 [when] a neighbor asked me to design. She knew I had an art background, and she said, 'You design a card. There's a contest through the chamber, and then I will submit my verse and you can submit your artwork.' And we did and they picked my drawing and made it into a card, so that was my first win," McDowell said.
Years later, McDowell designed a cachet with a great message following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
"I was very happy because I wanted my cachet to go around the world with, 'We're united under one flag, one nation under God,'" she said.
Since then, McDowell has submitted designs featuring little Dan Cupid, along with other special sentiments.
"I decided I'm going to do more and they don't have to pick my designs. I mean, it's great if they do, but they have. And the cachet this year was the 21st time they picked my cachet design, so it's kind of an honor," McDowell said.
- Hear McDowell explain her design for this year in the video player below
Whether it is volunteers or artists participating in the mailing magic, there is immense pride for all involved.
"As you know, it takes an army to pull anything off. And because we are a community of artists, it takes a collective group of artists to build this off everything from the card verse author to the cash verse author and the card itself," McCloughan said.
Monday was the deadline for Colorado Valentines to be dropped off. The Sweetheart City will celebrate Valentine's Day with several events, including the Sweetheart Festival, the Colorado Eagles hockey game, and a group wedding.
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