Diamonds!
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Testdrillingin theFortlaCorne region, 40 kilometres to the southwest, has produced diamonds for De Beers Canada and CMKM Diamonds Inc. The area has one of the largest kimberlite rock clusters in the world and there is hope if mines are opened, Love will persevere.
DARREN BERNHARDT Saskatoon StarPhoenix
CanWest News Service
LOVE, SASK.
Some people spend their entire lives looking for love. Others are born and raised there.
The village of Love, in northeastern Saskatchewan, is easy enough to find. Quite literally, Love is just around the bend, off a curve of Highway 55, nestled in the land of timber and trout. And this time of year, near Valentine’s Day, is when Love really blooms.
Every year, thousands of romantics around the world send cards and letters through the community’s tiny post office, ensuring mail destined for their sweethearts is stamped with “Love.”
Love letters
The village was the first place in Canada to receive its own sanctioned postmark—a teddy bear holdingaheart surrounded by the village name — which was unveiledonValentine’s Day in1993.
The following year, the mail load through Love in the weeks leading to Valentine’s Day increased by more than 10,000 letters.
“And that doesn’t count all of the others for weddings, birthdays or anniversary cards. I couldn’t believe how it took off,” said Pauline McKinnon, the postmaster in Love for 23 1 /2 years until 2000. Colleen MacDonald, who lives 20 kilometres away, in Choiceland, uses Love’s post office to send valentines to her grandchildren.
“It’s just a unique littlefeature and they all get a kick out of the heart on the envelope. It adds that little touch of Love.” Other locations have custom postmarks,but Loveis theonly placeinNorth America with that name.
Still a long way to Climax
Saskatchewan also boasts the town of Climax but it is far fromLove— you can’t go quickly from one to the other.
TheU.S.has Loveland,Ohio; Valentine, Neb.; Loving,N.M.; Intercourse,Pa.; and RomanceinbothArkansas andWestVirginia. But it also has Squabbletown, Calif.; Fort Lonesome, Fla.; and Lost Chance, Colo.
“I’ve spent my whole life in Love,” said a smirking Valerie Rodgers, administrator for the little village with the big heart, as locals like to proclaim.
Love,at first sight,is aplacidplace with more white-tail deer crossing the main street at times than residents. Settled in the 1930s, the village was named for Tom Love, the first conductor to pass through on the CPR.
The possibilities are endless for word puns — it’s so small, it’s hard to get lost in Love; you can make Love in under three minutes from nearby White Fox. Rodgers has heard them all and never grows tired.
“It always gives us something to talk about and if it brings people here, that’s great,” she said from her one-room village office.
“Usually the first question people ask is, ‘What do people in Love do on Valentine’s Day?’ Well, we’re the same as everybody else. Some go out for supper and some stay home. It’s not that exciting,” Rodgers said.
“There’s no orgies going on, if that’s what they think,” saidcurrent Lovepostmaster Joanne Munro.
When shelanded thepostingfive years ago, coworkers in nearby White Fox ribbed her about going there. They suggested she start up an Internet business to sell Love products. But now if anyone asks how she likes it, “I tell them I love it, thenI realize that sounds likeI’mmaking a joke, but I’m not,” Munro said. “There are a lot of really good people around here.”
If it weren’t for the valentines, the daily mail load in Love would be closer to a few dozen items, said Munro. Mail comes in from across Canada, the U.S., England,Japan,Russia,France,Norway, Scotland, Germany and more.
Return to sender
Many cards are sent back to the country of origin, often to someone in the same city. The circuitous route is for the sake of a stamp. One Australian couple even directed their wedding invitations through town for that reason.
Others exchange “I dos” there, driving hours to a place neither the bride nor groomhave visitedbefore.Loveeven brought together one of history’s most notorious feudingfamilies, theHatfields and McCoys, in a wedding for a Regina couple who claimed their bloodlines traced back to the original Kentucky-West Virginian kinfolk of the 1880s.
McKinnon began keeping track of the locales offoreignerscontactingLove,jotting city names in a journal that soon filled up. It was her husband, Dale, who conceived the idea of recognition from Canada Post. It started some years ago whena trickleofcards andletterscaught his attention. At the time, the post office was located in the McKinnon family store and Dale set out to get a Love postage stamp.
At first Canada Post said it would cost toomuchmoney.“But Icouldjust see the potential,” Dale said.
Undeterred by their initial reluctance, helobbiedfour years until theagency relented with the postmark.
Sadly,Loveis fading.According to 2001 census data, there were 71 residents. At its peak in the 1930s, when logging was king, there were 250 peopleinLove. “There’s not very many of us but we try to work together to keep things going and keep us on the map,” said Rodgers. All that remains are three businesses: amechanic’sgarage,a tavern-restaurant and a craft barn. But there is reason for residents to be optimistic.
Testdrillingin theFortlaCorne region, 40 kilometres to the southwest, has produced diamonds for De Beers Canada and CMKM Diamonds Inc. The area has one of the largest kimberlite rock clusters in the world and there is hope if mines are opened, Love will persevere.
