Lewiston, Maine’s “I Love You Gardens” Are Blooming & So is Hope

Something extremely moving is happening now in Lewiston/Auburn, Maine and if you haven't seen the "I Love You Gardens" yet, you must.

What began as a tribute to the victims of the Lewiston tragedy in 2023, has now bloomed into something thriving, breathing, and honestly.. healing.

According to WGME,  these gardens were created by artist Tanja Hollander, and they sit in Lewiston at Oxford and Cross Streets and in Auburn at Bonney Park. Even the youth of MAINE Community Integration-MCI  joined Tanja to help plant the flowers. 

They are filled with thousands of bulbs and pollinator friendly plants that were planted by volunteers from our communities.

And that's probably the part that hits me the hardest.

Because for so many of us here, the tragedy wasn't something we watched from afar on TV or our phones, we felt it. We felt it in our neighborhoods. I remember helicopters circling overheard with there bright lights and officials speeding through the streets searching for the shooter.

Even if you weren't physically there that night, the fear and heartbreak reached all of us in some way.

The I Love You Gardens in Maine are Filled With Hope

Now, another spring has arrived and with it, these thoughtful gardens. They are blooming where grief once sat so deep and heavy.

There's something so symbolic about flowering pushing through the cold ground after a hard long Maine winter.

About volunteers gathering together, hand in hand, to plant beauty after experiencing unimaginable pain.

According to WMGE, the "ILY Gardens"  are in full bloom.

They feel like a reminder that even though this community was forever changes, it was never broken. And more so, never forgotten.

And as the flowers continue to grow, somehow, we will too.