A Prankster With a Legacy of Love
Portland, Maine, is the most populous city in the state with just under 70,000 people. It’s a bustling seaport town about a two-hour drive from Boston (here’s a map). It’s a nice place to visit but it probably doesn’t get a ton of tourists in February — temperatures typically hover just below freezing and the city averages snow once every four days. So when something happens in Portland, especially during the winter, almost everyone in town learns about it.
Which is why, before 2024, the paper hearts that appeared on Valentine’s Day were such a grappling mystery.
On Valentine’s Day in the mid-1970s, the people of Portland woke up to learn that their town had been vandalized, kind of. Overnight, businesses all over town were adorned with white pieces of paper with a big red heart in the middle — on their doors, on their windows, and even on neighboring telephone poles. And for every year after that, the tradition continued and expanded. As NPR reported, the heart-hangers “also put up huge banners hanging off of buildings several stories in the air, dangling from construction cranes and atop an old military fort in the middle of Casco Bay, accessible only by boat.” This continued for decades, and even though townspeople anticipated the pleasant prank, few people knew who was behind it — until April 2023. The person behind the hearts was dubbed “The Valentine’s Day Bandit,”
That month, Kevin Fahrman, a photographer from nearby Falmouth, Maine, passed away at the age of 67. In his obituary, Fahrman’s family revealed the truth:
As we remember Kevin, we cannot help but smile through our tears at his infectious humor, practical jokes, and the long-held secret that he was a visionary behind Portland’s Valentine’s Day Bandit. Yes, you read that right. For decades, this mysterious figure warmed the hearts of the city by placing hundreds of red paper hearts on storefronts and notable landmarks, and huge banners in unexpected places. Kevin’s simple yet powerful gesture brought joy and love to the community, reminding us all to cherish our loved ones and treasure the place we call home.
Fahrman wasn’t acting alone; as NPR explains, “he secretly led a group of people in putting up the hearts for decades.” But the word “secret” is the key there — outside of his circle, few people knew that he was the Bandit. One of his close friends, Peter Bissell, told NPR “ I found out after he died. And it was so fitting, though. He was a very giving person. But I don’t think anybody knew besides his family and the people that he enlisted to help him.”
After news of the Bandit’s passing spread, there was an outpouring of love for his efforts — the governor of Maine even hung one of Kevin’s hearts on the facade of the gubernatorial mansion.
But the magic didn’t stop there. Before Valentine’s Day 2024, Fahrman’s daughter, Sierra, decided to honor her father’s secret legacy by ensuring it continued. As she told NBC Nightly News, she recruited “dozens of volunteers” to put hearts all around Portland — hundreds of signs all around town, including flags in some hard-to-reach places such as, buildings only reachable by boat (like the one seen above). And she also created a foundation in her father’s memory, called “Be A Kevin,” where she encourages everyone to continue “selflessly spreading love in your own communities.”
If you want to spread the Bandit’s sweet “vandalism” to your town this Valentine’s Day, the Be a Kevin Foundation makes it easy — there’s a downloadable and printable version of Fahrman’s heart art on their website; just click here, scroll down, and enlist a few dozen friends to help.
Bonus fact: If you’re looking to propose this Valentine’s Day, here’s a unique way to do it: go to a local Pizza Hut restaurant. Okay, that’s not terribly creative and really not a great idea, either — no one associates Pizza Hut with a lifelong commitment to your future spouse, right? — but in 2012, Pizza Hut tried to make it happen anyway. That year, the fast food franchise offered a $10,000 “Engagement Party Package.” Per Eater, anyone who purchased the package received a ruby engagement ring, a limo ride, flowers, a personal fireworks display, and the services of a photographer/videographer — oh, and some pizza. Specifically, they got “a Pizza Hut $10 Dinner Box, which contains ‘a medium one-topping rectangular pan pizza, five breadsticks with marinara sauce and 10 cinnamon sticks with a sweet icing cup in one box.’” There’s no evidence of anyone taking the Hut up on that offer.
From the Archives: Cupid’s Mailbox: Want to send a Valentine this year? Consider sending it to Valentine, Nebraska, first. (But time is running out!)