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Love is in the air today — and that means cash in the pockets of Lynchburg-area restaurant owners.

That could be especially true on this Valentine’s Day gift, the first to fall on a Saturday since 2004. And the first since the economy tanked in the fall.

Local restaurant owners said they expect to see more people tonight than they’ve seen in a while.

Shoemakers restaurant in downtown Lynchburg has been booked solid for more than a week. Manager Lucy Smith said the steakhouse has 215 reservations, with 20 couples on a wait-list. That’s the biggest turnout since the grand opening more than 18 months ago, she said.

“We’re thrilled that we still have the enthusiasm coming in the front door,” Smith said. The reservations include “so many first-time diners coming that we know of. That means there’s a lot of people out there that haven’t experienced Shoemakers.”

Most other restaurants in the Lynchburg area do not take reservations. However, they’ve been getting plenty of calls asking for reservations for tonight.

“Valentine’s Day is our best day in the month of February,” said Jeffrey Eames, a manager at Neighbors Place in Wyndhurst. “Valentine’s Day is definitely a booster.”

Harry Leist, owner of Olde Liberty Station in Bedford, said Valentine’s Day is earrings one of the three best days of the year.

While they expect tonight to provide more business than has been seen in recent weeks, local restaurateurs said it’s because January is usually slow. Overall, a weakened national economy and an uptick in unemployment in the Lynchburg area hasn’t curbed their business.

Data on local meals tax collection illustrates that people have continued eating out. Amherst County Administrator Rodney Taylor said the county is surpass-ing its expectations for meals tax collections this fiscal year. Late in 2008, meals tax receipts in Lynchburg were higher than in the year before.

Meals tax receipts have dropped about 2 percent in Bedford County since July, said Faye Eubank, commissioner of revenue.

Michele Digiovanni, owner of La Villa on Timberlake Road, said Lynchburg is a steady market where people still have money to spend eating out.

A restaurant he owns in Martinsville has been hit harder by economic woes, Digiovanni said. Martinsville’s unemployment rate is higher than 10 percent. Lynchburg’s unemployment rate in December was 5.3 percent.

Digiovanni said that he ex-pects to do good business this weekend.

Rob Campbell, a waiter at The Briar Patch in Amherst, said the restaurant has been just as busy in recent weeks as it was before the end of the year.

He said Valentine’s Day is an important business day there. The restaurant is rolling out New York strip steak, which it usually does not serve, as well as some off-menu desserts.

At Shoemakers, Smith said having Valentine’s Day on a Sat-urday key rings is a good thing and should help bring more people out.

At Olde Liberty Station, Leist had a different take: If the third biggest day of the year falls on a weekday, “you have two Saturdays that week” to pull in $5,000.

Having the day on the weekend means that couples have to compete with the usual Saturday crowd and the business won’t increase quite as much.

“We love for these holidays to be Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays,” he said.