YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – If the red, white and blue flowers made from paper plates adorning the walls weren’t a tip-off to the theme for the 29th Streetscape planting day – or event chairman Scott Schulick’s patriotic tie, for that matter – Youngstown CityScape officials revealed the event theme will reflect this year’s celebration of the United States’ 250th birthday.
Various community partners and stakeholders joined CityScape officials for a Friday morning breakfast event to unveil the theme and kick off fundraising efforts for the 29th annual planting event downtown, “Red, White and Bloom,” leaning into America250, the semiquincentennial celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
This year, Streetscape is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon May 30.
“We knew we wanted [the theme] to be patriotic. We knew we wanted to be red, white and blue,” said Sharon Letson, CityScape executive director.
The traditional patriotic colors will be in evidence not only in the theme but in the flowers to be planted.
“So you won’t see yellow; you won’t see pink; you won’t see purple. It’s red, white and blue,” Schulick said.
“CityScape supporters will tell you that beautifying downtown is more than just about plants. It’s all about aesthetics, arts, amenities and, most of all, forming partnerships,” Letson said. “Those community partnerships are the most important piece, and I look around and see so many past partners who CityScape has worked with on large and small projects, and your energy, ideas and support are what keep us going.”
Friday’s event included a video presentation featuring longtime Streetscape supporter and committee member John Lapin, former operations administrator with Ohio One Corp. During the video, Lapin, his voice occasionally choked with emotion, made a $50,000 donation to CityScape on behalf of his son, Jared Lapin.
The younger Lapin died from pulmonary embolisms in both lungs last June, the day after last year’s planting day. When he lived in town, the University of Michigan graduate sometimes joined his father in volunteering for Streetscape. He specialized in helping sort and distribute the plants, and over the years he developed a professional expertise in supply chains.
“Now that I reflect on it, I think we trained him to be a supply chain expert, passing those plants out in the early days of StreetScape,” Lapin said.
Letson described the donation from Lapin as a “legacy gift,” funds from which will be used initially to purchase a Gator utility vehicle to support planting day activities. “Moving forward, we’re going to keep this fund to have very special legacy kind of projects that keep Jared in our memory and really pay tribute to this important gift to us,” she said.
Other speakers during the event included Germaine Bennett, president of CityScape’s board of directors, and Jonathan Huff, chief of staff to Mayor Derrick McDowell, who was at an out-of-town conference and unable to attend.
Over the past year, some of CityScape’s most significant work has involved the renovations taking place at the former Briel’s Flowers & Greenhouse in Youngstown, which CityScape purchased in 2021.CityScape has spent an estimated $500,000 in rehabilitating the greenhouse and associated property, with funding coming from Appalachian Regional Grant and American Rescue Plan funds, as well as other sources.
The property needed “a big upgrade,” Letson said. A ribbon cutting and open house for the CityScape at Briel’s Resource Center is expected in late spring or early summer.
“It’s exciting as we venture into what the next steps will be, but it’s a big investment in that Mahoning Avenue corridor, an important corridor in our city,” she said.
Pictured at top: Sharon Letson, Scott Schulick and Germaine Bennett.