America’s ‘Valentine’ towns share the holiday love

Back in school, near the turn of the century, Ismelda Ornelas won a competition that landed her drawing on a stamp used by her hometown post office in Valentine, Texas. The image was of a male horse offering a flower held in his mouth to a mare wearing a bow.

Years later, Ornelas, now the Valentine, Texas, postmaster, spends long hours each February stamping another child’s winning drawing onto thousands of Valentine’s Day cards.

“Knowing I play a role in sending someone a small token of love from another person, with a hand-stamp from Valentine, TX, is truly special,” she says.

The town is one of a handful of places named Valentine across the United States. Each year, in the days and weeks leading up to February 14, these towns are swamped with mail from people who not only want to send their love, but make it official, stamped “Valentine.”

Ornelas postmarks 10,000 to 12,000 pieces of Valentine’s Day mail each year. Senders mail in their postage-paid cards in a separate envelope. The mail receives a “Valentine, Texas,” postmark over the stamp and the sender’s return address also receives a stamp with the winning child’s drawing.

Valentine, Nebraska, a small town of only 2,600, is located so far from city lights that the Milky Way casts shadows on the ground. Yet February is a busy time in Heart City, as it’s called. At the post office, “Cupid’s Mailbox” receives thousands of Valentine’s Day cards. Each will be postmarked with a special stamp designed by a contest-winning artist.

The town holds a pageant every year in which kings and queens are crowned among both children and senior citizens. And a “heart drop” celebration brings families to the fairgrounds. The celebration, inspired by New York City’s Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop, rains down ping-pong balls from a raised heart. Each ball contains a voucher for children’s treats such as ice cream or fast-food sandwiches.

After February 14, Valentine is quiet until summer brings tourists to the region dotted with grass-covered sand dunes, wildlife refuges teeming with bison, and the cliffs and waterfalls near the Niobrara National Scenic River.

“If you love the outdoors, Valentine is the place to be,” says Regina Osburn, director of the Cherry County Tourism & Valentine Visitor’s Center.

Valentines, Virginia, also has a special postmark, according to the U.S. Postal Service. The Virginia town is the sort of place where the recent closure of a local market prompted residents to mourn its loss on Facebook and ponder how to re-create their convivial meeting spot.

The town with a mere 574 people receives almost twice that many visitors who come to celebrate Valentine’s Day each year, according to news reports.

Valentine, Texas, also sees its population jump around February 14 each year. That’s when a Valentine’s in Valentine party in an old mercantile building draws a crowd bigger than the town’s population.

The town’s only store has closed. The closest thing is an art installation outside of town that masquerades as a luxury shop, complete with handbags — bottomless to deter would-be thieves — and shoes that don’t match.

For Ornelas, what’s left is the town she loves, which includes a school, the post office and businesses around cattle ranching. As postmaster, most of the town’s 90 or so residents are also her customers, whom she knows by name. Some are cowboys, a detail Ornelas likes to share with incredulous city types. There’s also the clean air, the blue skies and the glittering night stars — all reasons she doesn’t mind the extra work stamping all those valentines.