He was visiting friends on the island when Danny Obregon first met his soon-to-be wife, Val Obregon. She was an island girl working at Ositos, a children’s clothing and toy store once located on First Street. He was a city boy from LA. Sparks flew.

“It happened fast,” Danny said. Their first date was on Valentine’s Day, and they were married the following fall. Nearly 15 years later, they are running two businesses, On Point Barbarshop and Bellagrey Boutique, both on Spring Street. The businesses are close to one another, and Val also cuts hair, so the two work closely together. The couple is also raising two children: a 13-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son.

“We have a lot of the same values,” Val said, explaining how they make it all work. She added that they grew up with similar experiences, agreed on many world views, and they are on the same page when it comes to parenting and being a family.

As busy as they are with kids and businesses, they also coach. Danny has been coaching his daughter’s basketball team since she was in fourth grade. He also coaches his son’s baseball and football teams.

Coaching is just one example of the couple’s community engagement. For the past five years, On Point Barber has offered free haircuts on the first day of school. While each year is different, on average, 50 children show up annually.

“It started because during COVID, this community was so generous, helping us out,” Danny explained. COVID was hard on local businesses, particularly salons, as people distanced themselves. Now in a better spot, they wanted to return the kindness.

“We wanted to do something to give back. We are pretty involved in the community, but we wanted to do something specific. The community has been so supportive,” Danny said.

Islanders often contribute as well, donating money toward the haircuts, which typically take two full working days to get through, or contributing gift certificates, new shoes, clothing or back-to-school supplies. The response was so great that they decided to do the free cuts every fall.

With all going on in their lives, it would be understandable for them to want alone time. Going on date nights is something that the couple confessed they are bad at.

“Even when we do go out, we find ourselves thinking ‘Should we have brought the kids?’” Val said. “They are both foodies like us, so when we go to a restaurant, we think, ‘they would like this, or they would have that.’”

Now that their eldest is at an age where she can watch their youngest, the couple is going to try again. “We’ll see what happens,” Val laughed.

Despite Valentine’s being an anniversary of sorts, they will not be starting date night on Feb. 14. “We don’t have very romantic plans,” Val admitted; however, the family will be taking a trip off-island, the couple doing one of their favorite activities: being with their children and hanging out as a family unit.

“Being married, you have to like each other; we like to hang out and talk about our day,” Val said.

“We are best friends,” Danny added.

To learn more about On Point, visit https://www.sjibarberco.com/.

To learn more about Bellagrey, visit https://www.bellagreyboutique.com/.