Contest showcases the lost art of writing love letters
<p>McGough and Co. is running its annual $1,000 Love Letter Contest. Those who wish to submit a letter need to have their letters in by Friday, Feb. 13, at 6 p.m. The winner will be announced on Valentine's Day. Last year's winner used the prize toward the purchase of a diamond and sapphire ring similar to this one. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Letter writing was once a staple of courtship, but as technology has progressed it is more common to see professions of love expressed through short, succinct and sometimes ambiguous text emoticons, emojis, and pet names like “bae,” rather than pages-long tributes to one’s beloved.
Liz Carpenter, former press secretary to First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, is credited with recognizing the beginning of the erosion of the art of letter writing decades ago when she said: “What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can’t reread a phone call.”
Yet every year for the past five years, Whitefish jewelry store McGough and Co. has proven through its annual Valentine’s Day Love Letter Contest that there are still people out there willing to put their feelings to paper.
Manager Stacey McGough said the business thought a love letter contest would be a way to engage people on social media, but the contest grew into something more.
“Since then it’s just gone crazy,” McGough said. “The winners each year are just amazing writers and full of heart.”
Last year’s winner wrote a letter to her true love.
“You are my lazy Sunday morning and my bright Friday night,” the winner wrote. “You are the warmth in my coffee when I roll out of bed and the buzz in my wine after a trying day. You are the reason I believe that I can do anything I have ever possibly imagined. My darling, you are the answer to every prayer I never had the courage to pray.”
Romantic love was well-represented, but so was affection in its other forms.
The store received a letter from a little girl written to her grandmother and another from a 24-year-old man written to his mother.
Almost every age group has participated, each with its own heart-touching tale.
“One guy brought in a whole journal he had written to his girlfriend every day,” McGough said. “That was kind of cute.”
The man sifted through the pages to find his single submission.
An elderly woman brought in a letter her deceased husband had written decades ago, when the pair were separated by a war and an ocean. It was enclosed in an old envelope, with the original stamps attached.
In another heart-wrenching submission, a woman proved that true love is enduring by writing a letter about the moments she recalled spending with her husband.
“My love for you is always in my soul and through every part of my being,” she wrote. “I feel you with me through a gentle breeze ... through the warmth of sun upon my skin.”
The store has around 50 entries each year. Each entrant receives a $50 gift certificate and the grand prize winner wins $1,000 worth of store credit toward merchandise of his or her choosing. At the end of the day, though, everyone has a prize that money can’t buy, McGough said.
“They get a letter that they may not have gotten otherwise,” McGough said. “They are usually super excited. They have a smile on their face and they are really excited to submit it. They walk away happy.”
The entries are usually judged by the previous year’s winner. People can drop off entries at the store, email them to sales@mcgoughandco.com, mail them to McGough & Co, 131 Central Ave., Whitefish MT 59937, fax them to 406-862-9192, or send them in via Facebook message.
The contest deadline is Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. Questions can be directed to 406-862-9199.
Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.