The Salina Post newsroom enjoys traveling in Kansas and abroad, and we want to share those experiences with our readers! Each time Nate King, the Salina Post news director, and Olivia Bergmeier, the Salina Post news reporter, venture beyond Salina, a new post in "The Beyond Salina Series" will appear fresh on your newsfeed.
By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
There's one city that takes Valentine's Day to the next level — Loveland, Colo.
Each year, I enjoy taking a trip out to Loveland during February to see the town bathed in pink and red hues for the holiday, complete with the Sweetheart Festival the weekend before.
Loveland is a community close to the prominent natural feature Devil's Backbone and north of Denver, Colo. According to the Loveland Chamber of Commerce, city founders named the town after William A. H. Loveland, who helped establish the rail lines from Denver to nearby Fort Collins.
During my visit from Friday, Feb. 9, to Monday, Feb. 12, I attended multiple Sweetheart Festival events and visited the downtown local vendors who set up shop for the day.
The sights, sounds, and shops of the entire town light up with love-themed everything, with romantic photo opportunities spread throughout Lincoln Avenue and ice sculptures by local artists.
Event staff set up ice blocks the night before, ready for local artists to carve away while attendees watched the blocks transform into reliefs of playing cards, scenery and people.
The Soul Shine Botanica and Gifts, an apothecary, tea and gift shop, was one shop we visited while walking to the Beet Education Center at the Loveland Museum for more event activities.
As we walked into Soul Shine, various teas lined an antique shelf, with unique tea-related wares alongside tumbled stones and crystals.
One of my favorite items was a ball tea strainer that sported a sizeable raw amethyst crystal on the end of its chain to hold the filter at the right level in my tea mug.
My favorite establishment was a small coffee shop named Dark Heart Coffee, which uses single-origin coffee in each drink and often rotates flavorful lattes to match each season.
Single-origin coffee is roasted coffee from a single, known geographic region. The coffee often presents unique characteristics compared to blended coffees with multiple origins.
The Maple Bourbon Latte, slightly sweetened for my severe sweet tooth, became the drink of choice at the small cafe, which used bourbon extract and maple syrup for a deliciously unique latte.
After acquiring coffee for the morning, my partner and I ventured downtown for the festival, where we roamed through each local vendor and participated in the community mural that remains as permanent public art in Loveland.
The festival began this tradition two years ago, and my partner and I participated this year. Each attendee can take a square of the overall mural and personalize it within a few parameters.
Staff will draw out the shape beforehand on each square and write a correlating letter to tell participants which table to visit with the matching color theme.
Mine was pretty simple, but I enjoyed watching families wipe paint onto their young children's hands and feet to memorialize their visit to the festival.
The Mishawaka Amphitheater in Poudre Canyon offered a unique dinner service alongside the Sweetheart Festival. The restaurant rests on the Cache la Poudre River, with a balcony dining area that hovers above the water.
Due to the weather, staff offered bubble tents with heaters for patrons to enjoy the sights surrounding Mishawaka while staying warm. The Valentine's Day dinner service for the evening provided a bottle of local wine, two entree choices and a choice for an appetizer and dessert.
The appetizer options included a veggie tray, a few small bites, and some artichoke dip, which my partner and I chose. The dip featured corn chips and various vegetables, including carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, and celery sticks.
For my entree, I enjoyed a penne pasta dish with spicy veggie meatballs and a side Caesar salad, and my partner had the garlic and herb butter sirloin steak with steamed broccoli and scalloped potatoes.
The New York-style cheesecake rounded out our meal, and by the time we left, I was tipsy on the local wine, and my partner was stuffed from the delicious food.
Once we finished our meal at Mishawaka, we drove back into Loveland, about a 30-minute trip, to watch some live music and a fire show downtown by local metal artisans.
The ice sculptors finished their work while we visited Mishawaka. By the time we revisited downtown, colorful lighting illuminated the intricate work of the artists, with wide-ranging themes for each.
There was also a tall block of ice for visitors to write messages on, and I found a fellow Kansan who let everyone know where they felt at home.
The live show featured a local cover band who performed famous classic rock hits like "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns and Roses.
Overall, the Sweetheart Festival did not disappoint, nor did the entire town of Loveland. With expansive views of the mountains to the west and many hiking trails merely 30 minutes away, the travel destination has become a favorite of mine.
The views and opinions expressed in this editorial article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Salina Post or Eagle Communications.