LOVE, Sask. — On Valentine’s Day — and every day — it’s good to be in Love.
At least, that’s what the people in the Saskatchewan village say.
Located off Highway 55 between Prince Albert and Nipawin, Love is in many ways like any other small prairie community. It boasts a post office, a bar, a jaunty sign leading off the highway, and a population of approximately 50.
But the village's name also brings attention, and tourism, and the people here have leaned into that.
Three decades ago, in 1993, a giant promotional postcard from Love, mailed to various celebrities by Canada Post, ended up in the hands of Oprah Winfrey. On Valentine's Day that year, she put the postcard on air and exposed the world to Love.
As Mayor Shelley Vallier likes to say, she wants the world to see that Love isn't just a dot on the map. It is cared for, cherished and, yes, loved.
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The tales told to Vallier by retired postmaster Connie Black, or the legends retold over the years, are spun from around the globe.
The village's post office has received marriage announcements from near and far, as distant as Turkey, to get Love's official stamp on the happy couple's wedding invitations and then sent on to their destinations.
Black recalled someone driving from The Pas in Manitoba to get a wedding invitation stamped.
A "very sweet senior" from Ontario sent a Valentine's Day card to Love to get stamped and then sent back to his wife of 60 years, Vallier said.
The town receives dozens of Chinese New Year's letter every year.
People have travelled thousands of kilometres to get married in Love. The village even once hosted the wedding of a Regina couple with the last names of Hatfield and McCoy.
People in the village can meet at the intersection of Hearts Delight Street and Valentine Avenue. Other roadways in the community include Pucker-up Alley, Teddy Bear Street and Honey Drive.
Even with the attention, though, the village — like many small communities in Saskatchewan — has struggled at times to stay on the map, both literally and figuratively.
In 2013, the community faced genuine financial peril. For several years around that time, the village had failed to keep receipts and pay the school division its share of property taxes. The village then hired an auditor to go through its books. With the outstanding bills and auditor fees, the total debt reached $50,000.
"The biggest thing is the support that we get from people in the surrounding communities," Vallier said. "Any time this village has ever been in trouble, people step up right away. No questions asked."
A decade later, the village and the people living there continue with plans to ensure financial prosperity by further making the community a wedding destination.
Generating revenue is a challenge, Vallier said. Taxes have to be paid. Looking for stable revenue streams, community members moved ahead with the idea of a new chapel.
It took time — years, in fact — to become a reality, with plenty of long days and sleepless nights for those involved in the process. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed things down.
Now, a former bunkhouse from Choiceland has been moved up the road, renovated and made new. As the community members show off the nearly-completed chapel, their overwhelming sense of pride is obvious. The building has enough pews to seat a few dozen. There is still the smell of new wood. Sun shines brightly through the chapel's windows.
They are set to start hosting weddings this spring. Vallier says they're keeping the gravel roads on the way to the chapel because locals and visitors love them. Small-town feel and all.
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Melodie Lamontagne grew up in Love and moved away. But "I always come back, and not just because of family," Lamontagne said.
There's the Love Winter Festival that recently celebrated its 50th year. Summer can't be missed, other say. One Christmas, in memory of postmistress Pauline McKinnon (who, along with her husband, created the famous postage stamp), a community member who owned a plane flew over the community for a teddy bear drop. Right over the village's hall, teddy bears fell from the sky "and everybody went out and took teddy bears" home, former mayor Valerie Rodgers said.
"There’s always something going on here," Lamontagne said. "The community is fantastic here, so we come home for that."
Karen Smith, who joined the village council after moving to Love three years ago, said it's "the support of the people" that makes the area special.
Residents seem to like the atmosphere of small-town life. There may not be a bank or gas station, but there is a restaurant and any critical services are only seven kilometres away.
A steady stream of tourists come in off the highway to take pictures by signs in the town and go to the post office for a picture. There are hopes that a local welder can create big letters to spell out L-O-V-E.
Smith said people in the community have high hopes for its continued growth and prosperity.
"It’s wonderful. I love it. My husband and I are now in Love."
Where does she see the village a decade from now?
"We’re going to be on the world stage."
