By Khalida Sarwari
There are notes and then there are love notes. Valentine’s Day is one of the few times of the year when expressing saccharine sentiments in a handwritten letter is not only appropriate, it is encouraged.
The Saratoga Village Development Council has a tradition of its own in commemoration of Valentine’s Day. Every year, the group collects written expressions of affection from the community and hangs them on the windows of businesses in the Village for all to see.
For members of the development council, the initiative is literally a labor of love. The group initially started it as a way to honor Susie Nagpal, a councilwoman and a friend of Jill Hunter who died of lung cancer in May 2010. Hunter is the chairwoman of the group and a former Saratoga mayor.
“The community wrote notes of love and encouragement to her that were posted in the Village windows,” Hunter said in a statement. “Susie’s husband, Amit, brought her down to the Village to see the huge banner in her honor in Blaney Plaza and all the notes of goodwill and appreciation posted in the store windows.”
This year, group member Laurel Perusa will attempt to add an extra element to the scene by posting love quotations around downtown. She is working on curating about two dozen quotes for fellow resident Tina Liddie to calligraph. The quotes will be interspersed with the love notes. One, for example, is a quote by Thomas A. Kempis, who said, “Whoever loves much, does much.”
“It’s fun, it’s festive, it’s happy, it doesn’t really cost anything and it’s just a sweet way for one person to express their love to another person or a pet,” Perusa said to explain the appeal of the love notes initiative.
Many of the notes typically are written by local schoolchildren. This year the Village Preschool and Saint Andrew’s Episcopal School are among the schools that have been invited to participate.
The collection period will run through early February, and the notes will be posted on the windows of Village businesses through Feb. 15. The development council requests that notes be flat and no bigger than 8.5 by 11 inches. Construction paper and decorations are encouraged, but avoid glitter as it tends to get messy. The notes can be dropped off at any business on Big Basin Way.
Link:
Saratoga inspires a love note revival—yes, a real handwritten note
