Love Lock fence unveiling

Please join The City of Dayton, and The Dayton Enhancement Committee on Tuesday, August 9 at 9:30 am for an unveiling of the Dayton LOVE LOCK fence.

The festivities will be held at The Dayton Community Center, where the LOVE LOCK fence is permanently installed.

In August of 2021, Kaylee Davis presented the idea to The Enhancement Committ ee. Kaylee was so excited, and I quote “I would like for this LOVE LOCK FENCE to be a symbol of Dayton’s youth as well as the community. People from all around neighboring towns can come to Dayton and leave their mark (LOCK) on the fence and keep coming back to visit the fence with their children or friends. This fence can be an att raction for Dayton. “

The history of the LOVE padlocks dates back at least 100 years and is a Serbian tale.

A local schoolgirl fell in love with a Serbian officer, they became engaged and off he went to war in Greece. Even though he was committ ed to the young girl, he fell in love with another women in Greece. As a consequence of his actions the engagement to the Serbian offi cer ended. The schoolgirl never recovered her sadness and died due to heartbreak from her unfortunate love. The young women from this Serbian town wanted to protect their own loves, so they started writing down their name with the name of loved ones on padlocks and placed them on the railings of the bridge where the young school girl and offi cer used to meet and had fallen in love.

Mr. Kimmy Wood of Liberty is part owner of K&J Machine & Welding Inc. in Pasadena and has been an honorary member of the Enhancement Committ ee almost since its inception. He fabricated the project from a photo that he was given. It measures 26 feet in length, is 6 feet tall, spells out the word LOVE, and includes a large heart symbol. It was built to last and is a piece of art in itself.

Bring a lock with you on August 9 or come and watch…and make plans to come back!!