A Heart City Celebration

Valentine’s Day in Valentine, Neb., (pop. 2,820) is more than a lover’s holiday; it’s a community celebration. Homes and businesses are decorated with red and white lights and heart-shaped greetings, the post office is flooded with thousands of Valentine’s Day cards to be stamped with the town’s special seal and postmark, and couples—both local and from across the country—select the self-titled Heart City as the place to begin their lives together.

“It was so wonderfully romantic to be married in the Heart City with love in the air, along with all the beautiful flowers and valentines,” says Cathy Assman, who was wed in the northern Nebraska town last Feb. 14. “Nothing can top being married to your favorite valentine in Valentine on Valentine’s Day.”

“I felt that there couldn’t be a more perfect way to express my love for my future bride than to be married in Valentine on Valentine’s Day,” adds her husband Chris, who runs an equipment business in Valentine.

The Assmans were among six couples who tied the knot in Valentine last Valentine’s Day. The Holiday Inn Express provided the room, decorated with flowers donated by local florists, and the ceremonies were performed free of charge by Cherry County Clerk Magistrate Mary Galloway.

Valentine was established in 1883 and named for Nebraska statesman and Civil War veteran E.K. Valentine. The community embraced the obvious connection with the lover’s holiday prior to World War II and the first coronation of a community King and Queen of Hearts took place in 1941. The

tradition, temporarily interrupted during World War II, was resurrected at Valentine Rural High School after the war as a symbol of community fellowship and unity. Today, the high school, Valentine Senior Center, Pineview Good Samaritan Center, and the local veteran’s club all crown a king and queen of hearts.

Another tradition is a communitywide competition to design the city’s official Valentine’s Day greeting card. In 2002, the winning entry had a patriotic theme with a red heart inside an American flag overlying Nebraska’s state map. The card contained a short greeting wishing Valentine’s Day happiness from the “Heart of the Nation.”

Valentine continues to develop other Valentine’s Day traditions, and one of the newest is a teddy bear decorating contest organized by the Valentine chapter of Xi Beta Omega Sorority. People decorate the bears based upon a Valentine’s Day theme. The decorated bears then are put on display, voted on, and ultimately donated to hospitalized children.

“Our community always responds very well to these kinds of needs,” says Connie Rhoades, a sorority member responsible for helping organize the event.

Laura Eastman, editor of the Midland News in Valentine, agrees. “This community has an incredibly giving nature that goes well beyond Valentine’s Day. You couldn’t find a more outgoing and caring community anywhere.”

Eastman relates a story of massive wildfires that burned thousands of acres and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars in property near Thedford, a town 65 miles south of Valentine, in 1999.

“The whole town of Valentine turned out to bring food and help fight the fires. Afterward we held a radio telethon to raise money for the victims of the fire. That’s just one of hundreds of examples that really says something about the giving nature and generosity of the people in this town, and on a day like Valentine’s Day you can really feel the love here. It’s like that all over town.”

Robin E. Shirley is a freelance writer in North Platte, Neb.

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