Student elves at The Waldorf School of Bend have been busy for weeks making felt hearts. It’s a project the entire school, including parents, undertake to continue the annual tradition of heart bombing downtown Bend on Valentine’s Day.
“Our entire school comes together, sometimes other people not from my school, and it just feels joyful,” says 10-year-old Charlie Nelson, who was sitting at a desk sewing a red heart. “We get to hang out and it’s on Valentine’s. And we get to bring stuffies and wear pajamas on Valentine’s Day.”
More than 2,000 embroidered, stuffed fabric hearts are made and hung along Minnesota Avenue in downtown Bend every Feb. 14th. The project started 12 years ago, initiated by a parent, Erin Hansen, who lost her battle with cancer five years ago. The Waldorf’s handwork teacher, Rebecca McGuire, has spearheaded the project since 2020.
“Erin’s idea was, let’s shower our community with love,” McGuire says. The love has never stopped, not even during Covid-19. McGuire teaches a variety of artistic skills such as knitting, crocheting and sewing. Students making the hearts learn how to sew and perform different types of stitches.
“All of our early childhood teachers also have their students as young as three stitching hearts in class,” McGuire says. “And about five years ago, we started partnering with Fox Hollow…a retirement facility that’s down the street from our school.” Supplies are left at the front of The Waldorf School for parents to take home or they can attend a scheduled community crafting night. The work begins as early as October.
Nine-year-old Skyler Gere was hard at work on her design, on a Monday in January. “I’m trying to make a sun and a moon and then I’m writing love.”
“I like doing the embroidery,” 10-year-old Evelyn Thomsen says as she finishes stitching flowers on the front of her heart. Another student was stitching “you” on his heart with the letters in the shape of flowers and hearts. Another boy in the class was stitching a baseball. Each handmade heart is unique. The older the student, the more intricate the design.
“One of the important things in Waldorf education is that we use a lot of natural material,” McGuire explains. “So, we try our best to use wool, felt wool, or cotton stuffing, cotton embroidery floss. You’ll see knit and crocheted hearts, and those are using natural fibers for the yarn.” The Waldorf school pays for the materials with help from sponsors.
At 6am on Valentine’s Day, volunteers will prepare the trees on Minnesota Avenue. “Then our school community shows up at 7am and they will hang all of the hearts. And each heart has a little tag on it with a little message of love… Our goal, and it happens every year, is that people come down and enjoy and they take a heart and they give it to someone they love. The next day, volunteers go back and clean up. And most of the time we find only a handful of hearts left.”
“One of my absolute favorite things to do is just be around town and see where all of these hearts show up. They’re in local businesses. They’re in people’s rear-view mirrors,” McGuirre says. “It’s a special time. I think our world is missing a lot of kindness.”
The school partners with the Downtown Business Association. “They do have our blessing to “love bomb” downtown,” Rachel O’Rourke, with the Downtown Bend Business Association, told the Source. McGuire describes the event as a 24-hour, leave-no-trace community service project.
“There’s something really magical about taking materials and watching them transform, and then the morning of, being able to hang all of these hearts. And you’re not hanging the heart that you made, but you’re hanging the hearts that other people made, and you just get to see how unique each one is,” McGuirre says. “It’s something really special to our school.”
While adults may have a deeper connection to the experience, many of the third graders interviewed for this story seem to agree with Charlie about their favorite moments that happen Valentine’s morning. Skyler sums it up, “The best part of the whole thing is pancakes at school…. We also get to wear pajamas if we want to.”
Heart Bombs
Sat. Feb 14 All Day
Minnesota Avenue, Bend
Free
This article appears in the Source February 5, 2026.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Fill the Tower with Love! Bring those sweet hearts to the High Desert Chamber Music Concert on Saturday, February 14 at 7:30pm. Pre-concert talk at 6:45pm. Tickets are available, and seats are general admission. Student Tickets are available at $15 with purchased with a student ID. Come hear the Music! https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=288629&_gl=1*lh587t*_gcl_au*MTA0ODYxMzY1MS4xNzY5NDQ3MTAz