When the Troggs sang “Love Is All Around” in 1967, they could have been thinking about Delaware’s mayor — nearly 50 years later.
Love was literally all around Mayor Carolyn Kay Riggle on Sunday — Valentine’s Day, of course — at the Women’s City Club at 135 N. Franklin St.
Riggle presided over not one, not two, but six weddings on Valentine’s Day Sunday afternoon at the Women’s City Club.
“I just love to see people happy and what other way than through marriage,” she said. “So that’s why I do it.
Couples paid a reduced price of $20.16 to celebrate their nuptials on the most romantic day of the year.
The proceeds will support the Veterans Plaza, which is under construction, at the National Guard Training Center adjacent to the Delaware Community Center YMCA, 1121 S. Houk Road.
“That’s where my heart is,” Riggle said. “It’s with the veterans at all times.”
Huddled around Mayor Riggle, like the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, Riggle peppered vows to each couple like Peyton Manning used to pepper passes through opposing defenses.
When the ceremony was over, the couples toasted with champagne and celebrated their new unions with loved ones in attendance.
Riggle has done a Valentine’s Day mass marriage for three straight years.
“It was just an idea that I had – I thought we could marry as many couples as we could,” she said. “The first year we did 11 weddings, last year was nine weddings (and) this year we only had six.”
Riggle said she has married more than 250 couples.
