A love for LaFayette and locals
BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LAFAYETTE — LaFayette Main Street is hosting its annual Love LaFayette event on Feb. 7 on the Square from 5 to 8 p.m. The event will include sweetheart carriage rides, food trucks and vendors, a silent auction, a Valentine photo booth, bingo, live music, a flower cart and more.
“Love LaFayette is really our most popular event, I think, that the Main Street puts on,” said LaFayette Main Street Promotions Committee Chair, Cindy Henderson. “It’s one of our largest [events] and [it’s] really loved by all the community members, because there are so many fun things to do. We really take this opportunity around February, near Valentine’s Day, to promote the love of LaFayette, our businesses and to just really bring our community together.”
The Executive Director of LaFayette Main Street, DeAnna Hand, said the Love LaFayette event will foster connection and community bonding throughout LaFayette — welcoming locals and visitors to celebrate love.
“Our annual Love LaFayette event focuses on the connection and love many have for our sweet town,” she said. “It celebrates LaFayette and the people, small businesses and relationships that make us unique. When you come to LaFayette, you feel the southern hospitality and bonds that many share. This event celebrates our locals and creates a space where neighbors run into neighbors, families make memories and visitors feel welcomed.”
Along with family fun and activities, Henderson said LaFayette Main Street will also hold Love LaFayette Awards.
“We do the Love LaFayette Awards,” she said. “These are just various awards for people in the community, and examples would be all the way from the Oldest Citizen Award to the Cutie Pie Award.”
To show love for some of the local LaFayette businesses, Henderson said LaFayette Main Street will be snapping festive photos around town to share on social media.
“Leading up to the event, we will be doing a promotion campaign for loving our local — so one of the things that we do is we are going to visit all of our local businesses with a photo op,” she said. “We will take their picture, we tell a little bit about why we love this particular business and we just really give them some exposure on social media.”
The second part of the promotional campaign, Henderson said, is the Love Your Local Rose Grams. Orders are due by Jan. 23, and they will be delivered between Feb. 2 and 6.
“You can purchase a rose for $12, and you can choose a friend, neighbor, teacher, co-worker or anybody that you want to deliver a rose to,” she said. “This is just a really sweet way to let somebody know that you’re thinking about them and that they’re special to you.”
As LaFayette Main Street and the community prepare for the Love LaFayette event, Henderson said this preparation and excitement is a reflection of the locals who make LaFayette a city to love.
“I think if you speak to any of our local people in LaFayette, there’s just a real sense of community in LaFayette, and we really all band together,” she said. “I think these events are just a way to do that, it’s just such a celebration of all things local, and that’s kind of our theme for this event — we’re celebrating our local community and the love and community that we share with one another. It’s just a great way to promote what a wonderful, wonderful town that we live in.”
For more information, visit www.lafayettemainstreet.org.
