Valentine's Day surprises for diners, workers in Rittenhouse Square from Visit Philadelphia
You can enter win a Visit Philly Overnight Hotel Package.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The cutest place to celebrate Valentine's Day in Philadelphia may just be 18th Street in Rittenhouse Square.
Visit Philadelphia partnered with restaurants and hotels to decorate a stretch of the street with 5,000 pink and red balloons.
"We love love, so we're just coming out and expressing our love to each other as we do every day," said Chris White from South Philadelphia.
White said he got style points for taking his fiancé Simona out to Sunday brunch.
"It's beautiful. We just rode through and she was like 'Wow! We're going there!' And I said, 'Yes, we're going there,'" White said.
The set-up is a citywide collaboration.
"I just wanted it to be hot, warm; it's freezing outside, let's toast it up, keep it sexy," said Madisun Morgan, who owns Maple Street Modern Design and set up the balloons.
The design company partnered with Visit Philadelphia, restaurants, and hotels to encourage people to go out to eat.
"We really want to do everything to give people an opportunity to work again and also give people who have been stuck at home for a year the inspiration to get out and start traveling again," said Cara Bongiorno from Visit Philadelphia.
As an added surprise, Visit Philadelphia also gave away 100 Visit Philly Overnight Hotel packages to some diners and restaurant workers.
The package includes a free night in a hotel, parking, and buy-one-get-one free attraction tickets.
"Every day's been a little bit harder with the outdoor dining, with the heaters, the tables. Every little thing's just been a little bit harder. So anything like this just puts a smile on our face. It's good," said David Montague, the general manager of Bar Bombon.
It's been a devastating year for the service and hospitality industries, but by showing some brotherly love to each other, they're hoping they'll pull through.
"It's so nice. It's just nice to see a pop of color on a gloomy day," said Olivia Christian from Langhorne.
On top of the 100 surprise packages being given away on Valentine's Day in Rittenhouse, Visit Philadelphia says it will offer even more on its website. Entries will be accepted until Feb. 28.
