The nation’s Sweetheart City, Loveland, Colorado just got sweeter for Valentine’s Day with the launch of the inaugural Loveland Sweetheart Festival – Love, Locks and Lights. For more than 70 years, Loveland has embraced sweethearts near and far and invites families and lovers across the world to gather in downtown Loveland to celebrate valentine season with love, lights and one of the largest Love Lock sculptures in the U.S. Join us Feb. 8-9, 2019 in downtown Loveland for free fun for the entire family.
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
- Lock your Love with the largest love lock sculpture in the U.S., sitting at over 30 feet. Attendees can purchase and lock their own Sweetheart Festival lock, expressing their love in the Sweetheart City.
- Art show at the 4th Street Gallery “Love in a Steam Punk World” organized by the Artist Collective
- Visitors Center with merchandise, love locks, and luminarias inside the 4th Street Gallery
- Art gallery walk for attendees to experience all of the art installations around downtown
- Palace of Sweets
- Beer and wine garden
- Sweetheart Classic 4 Miler ending at the festival
- Mapping projection laser shows each night
- Lost Love luminarias
- Art installations/interactive art displays
- Bands & other musical performances (see schedule below)
- Snowzilla Jr., the only one of it’s kind in the U.S. and Canada – for adults and children
- Photo booth with digital gif videos emailed to you
- Photo booth with princesses and superhero characters
- Face painting
- Little Miss Valentine and Little Mr. Cupid contest (children up to age 4)
- Fire hula-hooper
SCHEDULE
Kids zone, beer/wine garden, Palace of Sweets, food court/food trucks, LOVE Locks sculpture, lost love luminarias, community art installation projects and more will be open when the festival opens both days unless otherwise noted.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8
5:00 PM: Festival opens
5:00 – 8:00 PM: Ice Queen and Ice Princess meet and greets
6:00 – 8:00 PM: Dotsero performs
8:00 – 10:00 PM: Live DJ
10:00 PM: Festival closes
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9
2:00 PM: Festival opens
2:00 PM: Little Miss Valentine and Mr. Cupid Contest
2:00 – 5:00 PM: Princess Beauty, Ice Princess, American Hero and Spiderguy meet and greets
2:30 PM: Sweetheart Classic 4 Miler race begins
3:30 PM: Sweetheart Classic 4 Miler awards ceremony
4:00 – 7:00 PM: The First Princess meet and greet
4:00 – 5:00 PM: Funky Business performs
5:00 – 8:00 PM: Princess Snow, Punzie and Spiderguy meet and greets
5:00 – 6:30 PM: Live DJ
6:30 – 8:00 PM: Spinphony performs
8:00 – 10:00 PM: Live DJ
10:00 PM: Festival closes
LITTLE MISS VALENTINE AND MR. CUPID CONTEST
Children up to age 4 can participate in the Little Miss Valentine and Little Mr. Cupid contest. There are two age groups: 0-2 and 3-4. All participants must register through the Eventbrite link prior to the event. There is no cost to participate, and the winner will receive a grand prize. All participants will receive a small gift.
INTERACTIVE ART INSTALLATIONS
- “For the Love of the Earth” – Pinwheel Project: This Earth Friendly Up-cycled Art Piece will be made of 240 colorful pinwheels created out of post-consumer plastic bags fused and decorated by the attendees of the Sweetheart Festival. The Pinwheels will then be nailed to a plywood backdrop to create a kinetic mural that will decorate a wall in Downtown Loveland. This project was created by Loveland Artist Heather Rubald with building support from Loveland Creator Space.
- Community Mural at 4th and Lincoln Ave.: The community will come together to create a mural out of 320 individually painted nine-inch-square tiles. Festival attendees will visit the tent to help paint the mural tiles throughout the festival and the mural will be built afterward. The mural design will be unveiled before the festival. This project is created by Loveland Artist Scott Freeman with support from Beggars Gate Church.
- Heart String Art: Sweetheart Festival attendees will work together to build a rainbow-colored heart art piece out of string.
- Ceramic Raku-Firing Demos: Watch as Amy Joy Hosterman creates custom ceramic pieces to give away to the public during the Loveland Sweetheart Festival. She will make and give away 100 ceramic pieces that fit the love lock imagery and include words like “Loveland 2019”, “Sweetheart City” or “Love, Locks & Lights”.
SWEETHEART CLASSIC 4-MILER
Sweetheart City Racing’s 4-mile race starts and ends at the Loveland Sweetheart Festival stage. Singles and couple registrations are available. The first 200 registrants get a complimentary love lock. Register online at SweetheartCityRacing.com.
