LakewoodAlive’s Volunteer-Driven Flower Blossoms Program Blooms In Downtown Lakewood

A volunteer from Lakewood Garden Center helps to prepare flower boxes.

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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 12th year, LakewoodAlive’s Flower Blossoms Program has resulted in the addition of 52 flower boxes for 2018 stretching east-to-west along Detroit Avenue from the Westerly Apartments to Cerny Shoes. 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 Lakewood Garden Center 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’re thrilled to have the Flower Blossoms Program return for a 12th consecutive year,” said Ian Andrews, Executive Director for LakewoodAlive. “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 incredible team of volunteers who make this program possible.”

Longtime LakewoodAlive volunteer Kathy Haber – a nearly 40-year resident of Lakewood – has coordinated the Blossoms Program since 2007. What started as hanging baskets that proved difficult to water has evolved into flower boxes featuring built-in water reservoirs significantly reducing watering requirements.

Haber’s team of 15 volunteers waters the flower boxes three times per week throughout the summer. Each volunteer is responsible for watering a section of flower boxes and bringing water from home in jugs.

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 June 7. There, Haber was joined by fellow volunteers from Rozi’s Wine House and Lakewood Garden Center to distribute completed flower boxes to program participants.

The success of the Blossoms Program has enticed several merchants outside the downtown district to purchase flower boxes on their own. Meanwhile, many longtime anchor businesses in Downtown Lakewood have faithfully participated in the program for many years.

For more information regarding the Flower Blossoms Program, visit LakewoodAlive.org or contact LakewoodAlive at 216-521-0655.