February 10, 2024 was decidedly Galentines Day in Ann Arbor, Michigan, not only in theory but in the practice of various businesses across downtown. From Shinola’s Cafe to Rock Paper Scissors, customers had the chance to pick up a valentine’s day card (deemed as a “passport”) and hop from participating store to store, collecting heart-shaped stickers for every involved business they visited.
My friend and I were walking home from the dry cleaners that day when we, by chance, decided to stop inside a store to look around. The shop was small, and dimly lit, filled with whimsical trinkets and items manufactured around the world. It was the type of store anyone would expect to fall out of the story of a Gilmore Girls episode. The lovely lady at the front counter told us about this little challenge, declaring that those who completed it would be entered into a raffle.
Watching other women, dressed in pink and red, carrying around similarly decorated cards offered a sense of community that feels very personal in Ann Arbor. With the quiet sound of entering each store, I felt roots spring from the soles of my feet and bury themselves deeper within the ground. A part of finding home in places is familiarity– to know the extent of what is around you. Becoming familiar with places I had never set foot in, I felt a little bit more of the homey-ness that I hadn’t even known that I was longing for.
By the end of our trip, our “passports” were filled with stickers and we had entirely forgotten that a raffle was the end of it all. It was the action of spending time with one another–making valentines, enjoying free orange juice, and collecting post cards and stickers– that encapsulated what the day was meant to be.
It’s this sort of activity that reminds community members why living in smaller cities can be so rewarding. Scattered across town are an array of businesses filled with people you won’t find anywhere else. You’ll find bookstores, coffee shops, and the loveliest of tote bags where you’d least expect it. If there is one good thing that coud come out of a galentines day, it is that we learn to appreciate the things that are right in front of us that we hadn’t even thought about.
Knowing the college town I live in a little better with each week I stay here has been an extremely rewarding experience and offered the acute understanding that explorations of places can be just as important as explorations of people.