LEWES, Del. - The Love, Lewes campaign is continuing in the First Town. What started a year ago as a way for businesses to show their love and support to the community, has turned into a phenomenon.
The campaign was aimed to restart the Lewes economy, and it did just that. Mayor Ted Becker says it is the reason why businesses survived this past year.
"Last year when they conceived this idea, it was actually implemented in record amount of time, so many people banded together from merchandising it, such as these, coming up with the banners, and working with the city. They were so helpful in launching this,” said Betsy Reamer, Executive Director of the Lewes Chamber of Commerce.
Mayor Ted Becker, Betsy Reamer, Dr. David Tam, Michiko Seto, Nikki Fisher, and Heather Cannon were honored with framed signed posters of the Love, Lewes logo, created by local artist Kayla Campbell.
"The main thing is a lot of thanks goes to the ambassadors, who were out on the street, educating the people visiting our town, what the rules were, how we were functioning and how we were keeping it safe for them to come visit Lewes,” said Blooming Boutique Owner, Michiko Seto.
WRDE’s sales executive, Heather Cannon, helped get the word out with commercials that aired on WRDE, and on the Cape-May Lewes Ferry.
"I don’t want to take all the credit by any means, Betsy Reamer and Michiko were instrumental in having this idea that we could get all these businesses together, and in a cooperative way, so we could advertise Lewes, downtown shopping, and dining."
Beebe Healthcare also played a role in the campaign.
"We were engaged from the very beginning with the city and the chamber on doing two things, on how to continue to educate the community on safety, and how to make sure that our local businesses survived and thrived during this really terrible time,” said President and CEO of Beebe Healthcare, Dr. David Tam.
Many businesses have been thrilled by the outcome.
"It's really exciting now that we are vaccinated, as the governor is moving towards lifting restrictions to get to the point where we will have a great summer,” said Dr. Tam.
The campaign is continuing to remind the community, it’s safe to shop in Lewes.