Contributor Faith Salie asks «When Calls the Heart» fans what the show means to them. She also talks with actor Erin Krakow and Janette Oke, the author on whose work the series is based.
Once a year, a lucky few get the chance to actually visit Hope Valley, an early 20th-century town on the Canadian frontier with a church, a school and a big heart.
Most of the time, the only way folks get to visit is by watching the place on TV. Hope Valley is the set of the Hallmark Channel’s «When Calls the Heart,» a show that takes pride in the fact that it’s something of a throwback.
«There’s a real desire for heartwarming entertainment, stories about community and family and love,» says Erin Krakow, the series’ star. «It hearkens back to a simpler time and it’s something that I think all of us really want in our lives.»
Krakow plays a schoolteacher who 10 seasons ago came to a town that was recovering from a mine disaster. At the time it was named Coal Valley. Slowly, with twists and turns and loves gained and lost, the town and her grew up together, helping one another like a family.
Viewership grew, too, and while Krakow may be the show’s star, that’s not how she sees it.
«I am one piece of the heart of the show because we are a show about community,» Krakow says. «And I think that we wouldn’t be Hope Valley, we wouldn’t be ‘When Calls the Heart,’ without all of the members of this community.
