It’s a new year and our first downtown event is now only four weeks away. That’s right, our Sweetheart Wine Walk takes place on Valentine’s Day this year. If you’ve been to our February wine walks in the last couple of years, you know that it’s a fun way to celebrate a Saturday night with your sweetheart or a group of good friends. Of course from my perspective, the best thing about the event is all those people wandering in and out of our downtown shops and restaurants at an evening event. As they check their maps and lists of participating merchants, they can’t miss the local floral shops that are known for their unique and tasteful wedding flower arrangements or corsages and boutonnieres for the high school prom. Or the kitchen shop that has the latest handy gadgets for making sweets for your valentine, cookies or cupcakes for your third grader’s class or a three tiered cake for your daughter’s wedding. Thinking about handmade valentines, making a fancy dance card, or wedding invitations with your own personal touch? We’ve got the perfect paper specialty store to browse in for ideas.

There’s a shop that specializes in pint size valentine gifts for your grandchild or favorite niece or nephew. If you’re partial to collecting valentine’s cards of yesteryear, we’ve got an antique mall you can browse through. If you’d just as soon not purchase a vintage valentine with someone else’s name on it, several of our local retail shops carry my favorite kind of reproduction valentine’s and sweetheart postcards.

If you’re looking for the traditional valentine’s gift of jewelry, downtown’s got you covered. There’s a new vintage jewelry store, Brighton designer jewelry in a local boutique, or, if you’re thinking about asking for your sweetheart’s hand in marriage, we’ve also got a wonderful fine jewelry store on Main Street.

Now if your idea of celebrating Valentine’s Day includes ordering new eye glasses, locating the perfect vintage cocktail dress, purchasing appliances for a total kitchen makeover, or redecorating your living room in country, shabby chic, contemporary, traditional or lovingly refinished heirlooms, our wine walk is the perfect way to check out what downtown offers. And don’t forget to bring your appetite because we’ve also got quaint Italian bistros, café’s, pizzerias, diners and restaurants that are perfect for a date with your sweetheart or your favorite group of friends.

So while some like our wine walks because we offer the opportunity to taste over 40 different wines one taste at a time, I have to admit that I love these wine walks because they are just plain fun. Visit our Web site at www.sumnerdowntown.com for more information about the event, mark the date on your calendar and I’ll meet you downtown on the Feb. 14. It really is fun to spend some time in Sumner.