Sweetheart Festival

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

When: February 8 from 5 - 10 PM and February 9 from 2 - 10 PM

Where: Downtown Loveland

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. Activities (purchase of love locks, luminarias, Snowzilla slide, beer, etc) will be additional cost and some purchases will be cash only. ATM's will be available on-site.

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, wine and spirits 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) - registration required
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
6:00 - 8:00 PM: Dotsero
8:00 - 9:00 PM: Elliott Turner Quartet
9:00 - 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
2:30 PM: Sweetheart Classic 4 Miler race begins
3:30 PM: Sweetheart Classic 4 Miler awards ceremony
4:30 - 5:30 PM: Funky Business
5:30 - 6:30 PM: Live DJ
6:30 - 8:00 PM: Spinphony
8:00 - 10:00 PM: Live DJ
10:00 PM: Festival closes

BEER AND WINE GARDEN

On-site vendors in the beer and wine garden:

Big Thompson Brewery
Crow Hop Brewing
Dratz Brewing Company
Grimm Bros. Brewhouse
Loveland Aleworks
Rock Coast Brewery
Seagram's
Verboten Brewing

PALACE OF SWEETS

The Palace of Sweets will be inside the state's largest inflatable igloo and the following vendors will be present:

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
B Sweet Cupcakes
Heaven's Popcorn
Starlight Dessert Bar
Colorado Candy Company

FOOD VENDORS

The following food vendors will be on-site for the duration of the festival:

Human Bean Coffee Truck
JDub's Dry Rub BBQ Food Truck
The Sweaty Moose Food Truck

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".

ART GALLERY WALK

Take in Loveland art scene with shows, tours and demos on this winter art gallery walk. At the heart of the festival, the 4th Street gallery will feature the “Love in a Steampunk World” art show coordinated by the Artists Collective. Other participating shows and galleries are:

4th Street Gallery: Love in a Steampunk World national art exhibition
Independence Gallery: 10th Annual 65 Roses for Cystic Fibrosis
Loveland Museum: Black Valentine
Lincoln Gallery: Champagne, Love and Chocolate
Artspace Loveland Art Campus: Love letters in the Wind and L’Amour Illumine’
Artworks Loveland: We are all MAD here (interactive installation) and Altered Perspectives
Loveland Aleworks: Loveland Love + Light Event
Loveland CreatorSpace: demos and tours
Rabbask Designs: Artist demos and decorate your own button station

KID'S ZONE

On-site activities in the Children's Play Area include:

Snowzilla Jr. slide for both adults and children ($3 per slide, or $20 per day unlimited)
Glitter tattoos ($5)
Princesses meet and greets/photos (free, photos additional cost)
- Friday
  - 5:00 - 8:00 PM: Ice Queen and Ice Princess meet and greets
- Saturday
  - 2:00 - 5:00 PM: Princess Beauty, Ice Princess, American Hero and Spiderguy meet and greets
  - 4:00 - 7:00 PM: The First Princess meet and greet
  - 5:00 - 8:00 PM: Princess Snow, Punzie and Spiderguy meet and greets
Face painting ($5 - $16)

CHILDREN'S 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. There is no cost to participate, and the winner will receive a grand prize. All participants will receive a small gift. UPDATE: registration is maxed out due to the popularity of this event - we are no longer able to take any additional participants but please feel free to come and watch the event.

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.