Click here to view photos from the 2019 Flower Blossoms Program
Venture along Detroit Avenue through Downtown Lakewood these days and you can’t help but notice an additional splash of color and greenery enhancing the district’s vibrancy.
Now in its 13th year, LakewoodAlive’s Flower Blossoms Program has resulted in the addition of 54 flower boxes for 2019 stretching east-to-west along Detroit Avenue from the Westerly Apartments to Sumpter Law. Geraniums and impatiens dot this urban landscape, creating a more appealing commercial district.
The Flower Blossoms Program is designed to help Downtown Lakewood merchants make their storefronts more attractive. LakewoodAlive partners annually with a local grower to provide an opportunity for merchants to purchase professionally-planted Earth Box planters with flowers appropriate for the sun/shade needs of each location.
“We are thrilled to have our Flower Blossoms Program return for a 13th consecutive year,” said Ian Andrews, LakewoodAlive Executive Director. “This volunteer-driven beautification service offered to Downtown Lakewood merchants is one of many ways we seek to foster and sustain vibrant neighborhoods in Lakewood. And we can’t say enough about the support we receive from the City of Lakewood and the incredible team of volunteers who make this program possible.”
Longtime LakewoodAlive volunteer Kathy Haber – a 40-year resident of Lakewood – has coordinated the Blossoms Program since 2007. Haber’s team of 15 volunteers waters the flower boxes three times per week throughout the summer.
With assistance from Lakewood Garden Center owner Paul Bilyk, who coordinates the Blossoms Program with a grower, the materials were dropped off at the Lakewood City Center Plaza on May 31. There, Haber was joined by fellow volunteers, including a group from PNC Bank’s Lakewood branch, to distribute completed flower boxes to program participants.
“We have a wonderful community, and I love being a part of making it the best it can be,” Haber said. “I feel that we are a community of neighbors helping others, great schools and strongly woven group of diverse folks who all just want the best for our families. That is why I volunteer as much as I do – I really enjoy supporting our community.”
For more information regarding the Blossoms Program, visit LakewoodAlive.org or contact LakewoodAlive at 216-521-0655.