Many Locales Offer Special Valentines Postmarks

via USPS news service:
More than a dozen Post Offices in communities with love themed names across America are offering special postmarks for Valentine’s Day that will make the envelope just as much of a treasured keepsake as its contents.

To use this service, just enclose your stamped, pre-addressed valentines into a Priority Mail or Express Mail envelope or box addressed to:

Postmaster
Valentine Remailing
City, State ZIP Code (see listing below)

Customers are asked to allow enough time for their cards and letters to be postmarked, re-mailed, and delivered in time for Valentine’s Day, Sat. Feb. 14. Depending on Post Office proximity, items mailed by Feb. 5 should be delivered by Feb. 14.

Click the sampling of the postmarks available to see the larger images:

Valentines Postmarks

• Beauty, KY 41203
• Bliss, ID 83314
• Bliss, NY 14024
• Darling, MS 38623
• Deary, ID 83823 – Postmaster Steleen Turner, said the Deary postmark was featured in the Martha Stewart magazine Summer 2003 issue on weddings. Her Post Office has received numerous sets of wedding invitations to postmark.
• Eros, LA 71238
• Hartville, WY 82215
• Heart Butte, MT 59448
• Heartwell, NE 68945
• Honey Brook, PA 19344
• Honey Creek, WI 53138
• Honey Grove, PA 17035 – Postmaster Brenda Clark decorates the Post Office and serves refreshments on Valentine’s Day.
• Honey Grove, TX 75446
• Honeyville, UT 84314 – Postmaster Lori Heyder decorates the Post Office and wears red on Valentine’s Day.
• Juliette, GA 31046 – Postmaster Franklin Mathews said that annually, the Juliette, GA, Valentines Day postmark generates an estimated 4,000 letters from 200 U.S. cities in 36 states. The postmark also has demand in Italy, France and Japan. (see additional information on the Romeo, MI postmark).
• Kissimmee, FL 34744
• Lovejoy, GA 30250
• Lovejoy, IL 62059
• Lovelady, TX 75851
• Loveland, CO 80538 – Loveland postmarks more than 200,000 cards and letters each year from more than 100 countries and all 50 states.  Most requests originate from Japan and many are requested from Argentina, Australia, Italy, England, Ethiopia, China, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
• Loveland, OH 45140
• Loveland, OK 73553
• Loves Park, IL 61111 – Address items to Park Branch, 1702 Windsor Rd, Loves Park, IL  61111-9711
• Loveville, MD 20656 - Located about 45 miles southeast of Washington, DC, in the heart of St. Mary’s County, the small Post Office is equipped with a hitching post out front for the 120 Mennonites who represent 40 percent of Loveville’s postal customers. Postmaster Terri Doughty brings in extra help to postmark an excess of 10,000 valentines each year from as far away as Germany.
• Loving, NM 88256
• Loving, TX 76460 – Postmaster Deanna Smith postmarks about 450 valentines annually.
• Romance, AR 72136 – Romance Postmaster Angie Davis and Postmaster Relief June Sullivan postmark about 7,500 valentines and wedding invitations annually from as far away as Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain and Japan. A local preacher is on stand-by Valentine’s Day to renew vows. There also is a justice of the peace available within a two-hour notice to perform the nuptials. On Valentine’s Day 2008, two weddings took place; one in the Post Office Box section and the second out front by the flag pole. Davis’ daughter, Megan, designed this year’s postmark.
• Romeo, MI 48065 – For the 15th consecutive year, the Romeo, MI, and Juliette, GA, Post Offices continue their celebrated alliance which offers a Valentine’s Day pictorial postmark featuring the theme of Romeo and Juliet. Sweethearts can have their valentine cards postmarked in Romeo, MI, with this year’s official identical-dual pictorial cancellation postmark. The postmark highlights a special silhouette of sweethearts expressing their love for the holiday.  This same unique cancellation will be applied in Juliette, GA. To receive this identical-dual cancellation, enclose your stamped, addressed valentines in a largerenvelope, and mail it Romeo and Juliette Valentine Cancellation, Postmaster, 356 Bowdoin, Juliette, GA 31046-9998 Postmaster Alex Stubbs postmarks an average of 4,000 valentines annually with some coming from as far away as Japan, France and Italy. Stubbs also offers a festive cachet envelope bearing the Romeo and Juliet postmark for $5.  For Romeo, MI, customers, Stubbs dresses in a tuxedo to delivercomplimentary chocolates while accompanying a letter carrier making Express Mail valentine deliveries.
• Sugar City, ID 83448
• Valentine, NE 69201 – Postmaster Arlene Paulson annually postmarks nearly 50,000 valentines from as far away as China, Africa and Australia. This activity has remained popular for more than a half-century.
• Valentine, TX 79854 - Valentine, TX, has been offering a valentine postmark since 1983. In 1994 the students of Valentine Independent School District participated in creating new designs every year. Postmaster Maria Carrasco holds annual contest among students in grades 7-12 for a new Valentine postmark design.  The winning postmark design is hand canceled on 24,000 to 39,000 valentines annually by the Postmaster and an assistant. In recent years, a proposal for marriage took place in the lobby. A young suitor called two months in advance to obtain permission. The Postmaster decorated the lobby for the occasion.  When it came time to pop the question, the young man came in, set up his camcorder, put on a red bow tie, and used his cell phone to call his girlfriend sitting in the car, and made up an excuse for her to come inside. She said yes, and of course and there were tears.  The couple drove from Austin, about 700 miles away. Texas Governor Rick Perry declared Postmaster Carrasco the “Cupid of Valentine.”
• Valentines, VA 23887 – Postmaster Kathy Fajna, 434-577-2456, typically postmarks 25,000 valentines from as far away as China, Australia and Great Britain, and last year hosted 15 weddings. The Post Office was named after the first postmaster, William Henry Valentine, who served as Postmaster in the Valentine family store from 1887 until his death in 1911. The Post Office remained in the family until 1924 when the Post Office was moved a mile down the road where it has been since 1935. It hosted the official first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the 1995 Love Stamp and postmarked 75,000 requests for first-day-of-issue postmark cancellations. Last year, the Commonwealth of Virginia designated February 14, 2008, and each succeeding year as “Valentines, Virginia Day.”
• Venus, FL 33960
• Venus, PA 16364
• Venus, TX 76084