VALENTINE, TX – For over 30 years, the Valentine Post Office has offered a customized pictorial postmark to add extra thoughtfulness to that special Valentine.

A new postmark design is selected every year from a contest held among local 7-12 grade students. This year’s aspiring artist and contest winner is 12th grader Meklya Siddiq, who was inspired by the west Texas landscape. The design depicts a Texas Sotol, similar to the one outside of the Valentine post office, appropriately adorned with heart blooms.

Hopeless romantics have been sending valentines to the Valentine Post Office for decades. Due to the post office’s remote location, most are received by mail from all over the country, as well as countries around the world.

An average of 10,000 - 12,000 valentines are received annually. The Valentine, TX, Postmaster, herself a 2001 winner of the postmark design contest, hand-cancels every single one. “I feel like Cupid’s middle man, connecting valentines, one with the other, through the mail,” said Postmaster Ismelda Ornelas.

A mail-in request is simple. Address the greeting card to that special person, affix a First-Class Mail postage stamp, like the 2022 Love in Bloom Forever Stamp, and put it into a larger envelope, also with appropriate postage. Address the larger envelope to:

VALENTINE’S DAY POSTMARK
POSTMASTER
311 W CALIFORNIA AVE
VALENTINE, TX 79854-9998

There is no charge for requests up to 50 Valentine, TX, cancellations. Requests for more than 50 cancellations will be charged five cents for each additional cancellation.

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