CARLSBAD – The Barrio Glassworks team began making handcrafted glass hearts last November to be ready for last week’s event.
Mary Devlin, co-owner of Barrio Glassworks, said that many strategies were employed to make the 700 glass hearts for the week-long Hearts of Carlsbad Village event. Excess fritted glass became critical to the design, and color stiffness had to be considered as well.
Each completed piece takes 24-hours to cool down, at roughly 50 degrees per hour, said Devlin, “otherwise it cracks.” She added that they tried to get out ahead of the increased demands for this year’s event.
“We started a little earlier and even so, we thought it was going to be plenty,” Devlin said of the plan to chip away weekly. “It’s 10, it’s 10, it’s 10. Uh oh. Now we move to 50. When we first started doing it, we did not know that the number was going to be 700 for the city.”
Hearts of Carlsbad Village began in 2021 and featured 50 hand-blown glass hearts from Barrio Glassworks. Since then, the event has grown and evolved into a week-long series of activities in the downtown area.
The event, which runs from Feb. 7 to Feb. 14, is organized by the Carlsbad Village Association, a nonprofit organization focused on enhancing the business, cultural, and community aspects of the downtown region.
Chanel Bennett, event coordinator, said the inspiration for Hearts of Carlsbad Village was “to get people back out in the Village” during COVID, walking around, participating in community events, and shopping at local businesses.
“A lot of the time we judge how busy or how many people are actually hunting for hearts, by how very few parking spots there are,” Bennett said. “We’ve noticed over the last week the increased business throughout the Village.”
Glass hearts were given away at the Carlsbad Village Farmers Market on Wednesday, as part of a welcome basket for people who booked stays at certain downtown hotels, and scattered throughout downtown during business hours. The events partnered with various local businesses and organizations, such as Visit Carlsbad.
Valentine’s Day featured a scavenger hunt throughout downtown, which filled up with 265 slots. Individuals, families or teams wandered around the Village looking for answers to questions such as “Find the Village Arcade monument sign. How many businesses are listed?” and “At the New Village Arts Center, a new play is in production. What is it called?”
The scavengers returned, filled out scorecards for a glass heart, and a recap of what they learned with volunteers.
Kandi McKinney, a Carlsbad preschool teacher, and Jillian Andrews, born and raised in Carlsbad, teamed up to fill out their scavenger hunt cards.
“It was fun,” McKinney said. “I found a lot of shops I’d never been in before.”
She said that she chose a clear, blue glass heart because “it reminds me of the ocean.”
“I liked the trivia aspect,” said Andrews. “This was fun because I got to learn.”
The San Diego Blood Bank also had three buses for people donating blood as part of the event. Donors received glass hearts, too.
Sheryl Tecker – who grew up in Carlsbad and still owns a condo in the city – said that she “was so excited” when she found a glass heart in front of a business two years ago as part of the event. This year, she said she wanted to give back by donating her O-negative blood.
“I have the blood that they want,” Tecker said with a laugh. “I’m a universal doner.”
She added that she planned on spending the rest of the day shopping and dining in the Village.
Bennett said that much of the strategy behind the latest iteration of Hearts of Carlsbad Village was to encourage people to explore what makes the area great, but on foot, in order to take in the details and explore businesses they might have otherwise driven past.
“It’s slowing people down a little bit,” she said. “It’s getting people moving, it’s getting people walking around the Village. We’ve even had folks that are like, ‘I walked 3 miles today.’”
