Swaths of pink and red, glittery hearts, and mini replicas of Cupid’s bow all drape a Loveland Chamber of Commerce conference room where fifteen women are carefully stamping envelopes. They’re marking them with a special cache declaring the Valentine has arrived from “The Sweetheart City.”
“I call them my OGs,” said the chamber’s events director, Deanna Sloat. “Original Gals, not gangsters,” she laughed. “They are very impressive, though. Some of them have been doing this for 30 years.”
This is the 80th year of the Loveland Valentine Re-Mailing Program, originally a PR campaign that’s grown into a more wholesome effort to share love around the world.
The program began in the 1940s when then chamber president Ted Thompson and his wife Mable — known as the town’s sweethearts — commissioned an artist to create a special stamp declaring mail sent from Loveland would arrive from “The Sweetheart Town” for the month of February. Ever since — they’ve been re-mailing cards through Loveland for Valentine’s Day.
“It's so near and dear to all of our hearts in this community. People love to do this,” said Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mindy McCloughan. “That's why it'll never go to an automated system. It's always going to be hand stamped. We're in a time and in a society where things are heavy and not so nice, and this is a way that we can keep the love going year-round.”
The program has grown in popularity over the last eight decades, though it does go through its ebbs and flows. “In its peak season, we had about 300,000 pieces of mail sent each year,” said McCloughan. “Since things have gone digital over the last 15 years or so, those numbers have started to dwindle, and we're down to 120,000 pieces of mail that go through the program.”
That comes out to about 8,500 hand-stamped envelopes a day done over the course of a 10-day period leading up to the holiday.
Some have stories that really stick with the stampers. “We got one from a little girl who sent a card that just said, ‘To Daddy in heaven.’ And then it said, ‘Please send it. I know he'll get it,’” McCloughan said.
Volunteers for Loveland's 80th annual Valentine Re-Mailing Program work hard to hand-stamp thousands of valentines from around the world, declaring that they passed through the Sweetheart City. Feb. 4, 2026. 
Edna Pelzmann has volunteered for Loveland's Valentine Re-Mailing Program for 13 years, hand-stamping thousands of valentines from around the world to declare that they passed through the Sweetheart City. Feb. 4, 2026. 
Thousands of valentines are ready to be stamped in Loveland's Valentine Re-Mailing Program, declaring that they passed through the Sweetheart City. Feb. 4, 2026.
Volunteers like Edna Pelzmann look forward to seeing these special letters arrive in Loveland all year long.
“I've always been a letter writer. I've always sent cards for birthdays, and I just think it's a wonderful way to keep in touch with friends,” she said. “My husband thinks I should have stock in Hallmark.”
This is Pelzmann’s 13th year volunteering as a stamper. This time, she’s in the afternoon group — in charge of stamping the official USPS postmark. The morning group did the cache stamp, which adds a special decorative touch to the envelope.
The work truly is a labor of love.
“Some people, their shoulders get really tired or their fingers get really tired from the repetitive motion and holding tightly to the stamps,” said Pelzmann. “Me, on the first day I felt a little something, but I’ve been fine ever since.”
Once a volunteer gets a seat at the stamping table, they’re not likely to give it up.
“It is a coveted position,” said McCloughan. “There's a joke around here that somebody has to die for you to get in this room. People who have been on the waiting list for a long time watch the obituaries. If we've lost one of our stampers, they're calling to remind me that they're on that list.”
Once you’ve been stamping for a while, Sloat upgrades you to the “chunky monkey” room.
“These are envelopes that cannot go through a normal sorting machine because they have some sort of lump in them, whether it be gems, confetti, photos, candy…” She picks up an envelope that makes a rattling sound like a rain stick. “This one, we think, has beads in it.”
Those lumpy envelopes require special attention and expertise. Joyce Boston is one of the women for the job. She’s been stamping since 1997.
“We handle the problem ones,” she said. “Like this one, it has a sticker where the cache needs to go. So I’ll move it by hand before I stamp.”
Other “chunky monkeys” won’t allow the stamp to go on smoothly, so she’ll use a pen in the correct ink color to ensure image integrity. “We fill in the gaps to make them look perfect; we want these to be special for people,” Boston said.
Some women wait over a decade to get their shot at volunteering. All of them have their own reasons for wanting to participate.
Some collect stamps or enjoy seeing where all the letters are going, others love the holiday, but most just really take pride in their city and want a fun way to give back.
“I think there's lots of love in the world, and we just need to continue to express it,” Pelzmann said. “This is one way to do it.”
Valentine Remailing Program Instructions:
Mail your prestamped, preaddressed Valentine in a large 1st-class envelope to:
Postmaster, Attn. Valentine's
446 E. 29th St., Loveland, CO 80538
The deadline for Valentine's Day arrivals has already passed for international destinations and most states, but those being sent to Colorado and Wyoming will still arrive in time for the holiday so long as they arrive in Loveland by Monday, Feb. 9.
To drop off your valentine in person, check the locations available online. To purchase a Valentine online through the chamber, visit their website.
