Lancaster streets to bloom with 300 LEADS’ baskets

Seeks adopters for 150 flower baskets

LANCASTER, Pa. – As LEADS prepares to hang nearly 300 flower baskets from lampposts throughout the business district in Lancaster on May 17, the nonprofit still seeks to adopt 150 “baskets of hope.”

Your $85 gift will adopt a flower basket, providing you an opportunity to celebrate a friend or loved one, or honor Mother’s Day, Dad’s Day or your pup’s birthday. Personalized tags, naming you or your honoree will be hung from each basket. You will receive a note letting you know the location of your basket.

“It’s been difficult to see our streets empty and many well-loved businesses closing,” says Joel Henry, LEADS president. “Our town that we love so much just isn’t the same.”

That is why this year’s Adopt-A-Basket program means so much to the city of 65,000 residents.

“While experiencing this has been difficult, we are also encouraged as we look around and observe people stepping up,” Henry says. “We are witnessing our community members helping one another in so many ways. All of this gives us hope.”

This year the group has extended its reach with 50 additional flower baskets on newly installed lampposts along West King Street from Prince to Mulberry streets. The baskets are adopted by businesses and members of the community for $85, which includes daily watering and care for six months. Anyone interested can adopt-a-basket at www.lancasterleads.org/adopt-a-basket.

The beautification effort, a project of LEADS (Lancaster’s Economic Action for Downtown’s Success) since 1999, advances the group’s mission to make the city a more attractive place to visit, shop and live.

LEADS is an all-volunteer group that also provides all city holiday decorations – including the Penn Square Christmas tree. Then, as now, LEADS is a completely volunteer organizations that operates solely from donations.

“The baskets are special this year, because I believe that they represent hope,” says Henry, a Lancaster resident. “The flowers are always a sign of spring and a community that comes together to provide them. This year, the flowers will also be a sign that life is getting back to normal.”

Hamilton Watch Co. is LEADS’ 11th annual ornament

FUNDRAISER

Proceeds help make Downtown Lancaster streets sparkle during the holidays

LANCASTER, Pa. – Since 1875, the one-time Hamilton Watch Co. factory has stood the test of time along Columbia Avenue. Today the elaborate buildings are home to residents, a school and other businesses. And to commemorate its place in history, the iconic structure has been chosen as the 11th Lancaster Landmark Ornament, an annual fundraiser for LEADS, the all-volunteer group that provides all city holiday decorations – including the Penn Square Christmas tree – and summertime hanging flower baskets in downtown Lancaster.

LEADS (Lancaster’s Economic Action for Downtown’s Success) selected the 143-year-old Hamilton Watch complex as this year’s honored landmark. Previous years included Central Market, Fulton Theatre, Watt & Shand, J.P. McCaskey High School, Lancaster Train Station, among others.

The three-dimensional ornaments are renditions of structures that have played a meaningful role in Lancaster’s historic and cultural life, crafted of solid brass plated in 24-karat gold.

The first phase of the Hamilton Watch complex, located on the west end of Lancaster City, was designed by architect Clarence Luther Stiles and was completed in 1875. It was the Hamilton Watch Co.’s headquarters from the company’s founding in 1892 until 1980. Twin 90-foot clock towers — the second added in 1916 — are the most dominant feature of the building. Each tower is topped with a mansard roof trimmed with copper and a clock with four faces. The four-story complex was built with brick and is shaped roughly like an ”E” with the main portion of building situated east-west, paralleling Columbia Avenue, and three wings extend north. An unconnected, four-story, Art Deco-style office building stands south of the main building located between the two clock towers. The westernmost wing of the complex was designed in a ”restrained” International style. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The main building, designed in Second Empire style, was converted into luxury apartments and condominiums between 1983 and 2000.

”We have been providing every wreath, bow, garland and twinkling light for downtown’s streets since 2006,” said Marty Hulse, board president. ”The landmark ornament has become a popular and successful fundraiser to help make downtown streets festive for the holidays.”

The three-dimensional ornaments are renditions of structures that have played a meaningful role in Lancaster’s historic and cultural life, crafted of solid brass plated in 24-karat gold, he said. The ornament can be used as a tree or window ornament or displayed in the gold foil box it comes in along with a card telling its history.

Since 2012, LEADS has invested more than $40,000 to improve the city’s holiday decorations, Hulse said. Proceeds from the ornament go toward paying for that investment, he said.

Ornaments can be purchased at Lancaster Galleries, 34 N. Water St.; BUiLDiNG CHARACTER, 342 N. Queen St., rear warehouses; Festoon at the Firehouse, 202 N. Duke St.; the Turkey Lady at Central Market; and the city Visitors Center on Penn Square. The ornaments also are available at Lancaster Central Market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 1, 8 and 15. Each ornament is $20 and can be ordered online at http://www.LancasterLeads.org or by calling Building Character at 717-394-7201 to purchase with a major credit card. Shipping is $4.95 for the first ornament and $.95 for each additional ornament.

LEADS began in 2000 when a group of volunteers created a grassroots effort to beautify downtown Lancaster. The goal has always been: make the city a more attractive place to visit, shop and live. Then, as now, LEADS is a completely volunteer organizations that operates solely from donations.