Volunteers Add A Touch Of Living Beauty To Downtown Doylestown

DOYLESTOWN BOROUGH, PA — A team of volunteers on Saturday morning helped Discover Doylestown add a touch of living beauty to the streets of the county seat just in time for Mother's Day.

The volunteers hung more than 230 flowering baskets throughout the heart of town in a springtime tradition dating back more than 30 years.

This year’s baskets, planted by volunteers back in April inside the greenhouses at Delaware Valley University, are blooming with purple flowers and sweet potato vines and will be decorating the town through Arts Festival weekend.

Organizer Mike Kendrick shared one interesting fact. The last time they included sweet potato vines in the baskets years ago, they produced fist-sized sweet potatoes by the end of the season. This year, whatever is produced will be donated to a local food bank, he said.

"We had no idea until we went to take them down," said Kendrick. "I got a call from the people gutting out the baskets asking, 'What should we do with all these sweet potatoes?'"

Philip and Becki Masters of Doylestown Borough hang baskets in front of the Paper Unicorn. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

James Lamb, co-owner of Evolution Candy in Doylestown, hangs the first basket of the day. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Becki Masters adjusts one of the planters along Main Street. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Volunteers hang a basket at the corner of Main and State. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

For the past few weeks, the plants and flowers have been growing and thriving in the warm and humid greenhouses at DelVal awaiting their spring debut. They were delivered to the streets of town early Saturday morning by the borough’s public works department.

The baskets add a pop of color and some nice greenery to the town and will grow extensively throughout the entire season, said Kendrick.

Next up for Discover Doylestown will be the 32nd Doylestown 5K Race and 1 Mile Fun Run on Saturday, May 24 from 9 a.m. to noon.

The 1-Mile Fun Run kicks things off at 9 a.m. at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. Registration is $15 in advance and on race day.

The 5K Race is scheduled to step off at 9:30 a.m. on Maple Avenue. The USATF-certified course will then wind its way down past Linden, through the Forest Drive neighborhood, back through Linden before finishing on State Street.

The registration fee for the 5K race is $35 prior to May 17 and $45 after May 17.

Drawing more than 700 runners and a huge crowd of supporters, the event is the largest race in the Bucks 5K Series. It is also one of the most spirited with residents living along the race route hosting front yard parties and cheering on the participants.

The 5K Race is open to runners of all ages and abilities. Runners will be timed using mats which will provide chip times. Click here to register.

All pre-registered runners will receive a race t-shirt and runners 21+ can snag a free beer after the race. Overall winners, age group winners and the age-graded master winners will receive awards. All Fun runners will also receive prizes.

The Doylestown 5K Race benefits two local non-profit organzations: Discover Doylestown and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School.