#LoveThatLot Turns 5: Let’s celebrate amazing revitalization efforts!

For four years, you’ve helped #LoveThatLot blossom into the Valentine’s Day celebration for your favorite revitalization projects and community champions:

2015 – In its inaugural year, people were excited to participate via social media in a celebration of community gems and community champions. We received a number of great posts ranging from a former brownfield vacant lot turned into park in Lawrence, MA, to blighted apartments being transformed into new public playground in Columbus, OH!

2016 – Among the many awesome photos of revitalization projects you shared with us, we spotted one of the very first in-person celebrations in the City of Salisbury, Maryland. Mayor Jake Day and other city leaders braved the cold bearing large cut-out hearts emblazoned with #LoveThatLot to take group photos at all of the formerly vacant lots in the city that were transformed into urban gardens. We even joined in the festivities and celebrated community resident, Ms. Althea Ward, and community organizer from Strong City Baltimore, Ms. Lottie Sneed – two community champions that created a community garden in a Baltimore neighborhood.

2017 – #LoveThatLot grew even more, and this year saw a WAVE of in-person celebrations across the country! Check out some of the communities that held in-person celebrations to recognize local revitalization champions: Sonoma County, California; Evansville, Indiana; Lafayette, Louisiana; Baltimore, Maryland; Binghamton, New York; Newburgh, New York; Syracuse, New York; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Clark County, Ohio.

 

2018 – You continued to flood timelines with love for amazing revitalization projects, and even put your own unique twist on #LoveThatLot. For example, Baltimore’s Vacants to Value initiative spent Valentine’s Day expressing their gratitude for different Adopt-A-Lot projects around the city, whereas the Westmoreland County Land Bank hosted a contest that invited the public to vote for their favorite of four revitalization projects.

Let’s keep the momentum going! Join us for our fifth annual #LoveThatLot celebration, and show your love for revitalization projects in your community. Was there a vacant transformed into a beautiful flower garden? Or perhaps a vacant building remodeled into a community gathering space for residents? Send them love and appreciation this Valentine’s Day! ❤️

Participating is easy and fun – here’s how you can get involved:

1) Share photos of revitalized lots in your community

Share snapshots of your favorite revitalization projects on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #LoveThatLot. These could be rain gardens, art installations, rehabbed houses, or anything else that’s restored vitality to a neglected property.

2) Send a Valentine, online or in-person

E-Valentine: Download the e-Valentine and send it on social media or via email to the people behind the revitalization project that’s captured your heart. When you share it on social media, make sure you use #LoveThatLot for a chance to be featured on our blog.

Paper Valentine: Nothing beats a paper Valentine with a hand-written message. Download the #LoveThatLot Valentine, print it off on regular 8.5” x 11” paper, and fold it in four. Send it off to a revitalization rock star so they know their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. If you’ve received a Valentine, post a photo of it—and your revitalization project—on social media with #LoveThatLot.

3) Go really public with your #LoveThatLot PDA – and bring well-deserved attention to a revitalized lot

Use #LoveThatLot to shine a big spotlight on exceptional revitalization efforts in your community with an in-person celebration, including an invitation to local media. You can find all the guidance you need to pull off a successful in-person Valentine’s event, including a sample media alert, in our #LoveThatLot celebration kit.

For example, if a formerly vacant lot was transformed into a community garden, you can stage a small Valentine’s Day celebration to recognize the person or organization that helped revitalize that property by surprising them with flowers, chocolates, and balloons–or even decorate the site in a Valentine’s theme, in the style of the “heart-bombing” popularized by Buffalo’s Young Preservationists.

Have questions? We’re here to help! Feel free to contact Christina at [email protected].