Yellow blooms of daffodils can be spotted across the city during marathon weekend in Boston: in the soil leading to the Back Bay Fens, in a pot on someone’s front porch or planted along the Boston Marathon route, accompanied by stickers that read “Boston Strong Marathon Daffodils.”
Leading up to the 129th annual Boston Marathon April 21, stores, restaurants, streets and even office buildings are decorated in blue and yellow, two colors used in the Boston Strong movement to represent unity and strength following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The tragedy killed three people and injured 260.
Boston Strong Marathon Daffodils, a non-profit organization established the same year as the bombing, plants daffodils along the marathon route to honor those impacted by the tragedy, celebrate the resilience of the city and empower current runners.
“We distributed 7,000 pots of daffodils throughout Boston,” said Diane Valle, the creator, organizer and president of Boston Strong Marathon Daffodils. “[Each pot has] five bulbs, so it’s 35,000 bulbs of daffodils.”
The daffodil was not a randomly selected flower. On April 14, 2013, the day before the marathon, Valle was planting daffodils in the North End for the first annual Daffodil Day, which was a collaboration between Rose F. Kennedy Greenway Conservancy and the North End Beautification Committee. Former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino could not attend the Daffodil Day celebration due to health issues, so Valle and her team, which included attendees from all around the world, sent the daffodils to him instead. .
Because of the proximity of the dates and the touching solidarity Bostonians showed in the aftermath of the bombing, Valle was inspired to start the Boston Strong Marathon Daffodils.
“I thought maybe we should plant daffodils. Everyone liked them. Why don’t we plant daffodils from Hopkinton to Boston, along 26.2 miles,” Valle said. “We planted them in eight different neighborhoods.”
With the generous donation for the remembrance daffodils that year, Valle started purchasing flowers for years to come, marking the start of the collaboration between Valle and Olson’s Greenhouses, where Boston Strong Marathon Daffodils source their flowers.
Olson’s Greenhouses in Raynham is a family business run by Clive Olson, and in 2006, Matthew Piscitelli became a co-owner with Olson. Piscitelli, who witnessed the tragedy in 2013 at the finish line, saw the opportunity in Valle’s meaningful project. The two came together to foster the tradition of Boston marathon daffodils.
“Once I saw the significance of what she was trying to do, it made sense to jump on and get behind her and create something special to commemorate the victims of the marathon bombings,” Piscitelli said. “[The marathon] has a special place in my heart, and she got on it so quickly that I was energized by her spirit and her drive and here we are today.”
“Path of the Daff” is a three-time Emmy-nominated documentary directed by Piscitelli that tells the story of the daffodils. The plot tracks the adventure of a daffodil bulb from the Netherlands to Boston, where it helped heal the community after the traumatic bombing.
“The movie really exemplifies what we want to share with the next generation,” Piscitelli said. “That spring will come again even in the face of tragedy, even in the wake of sadness.”
However, distributing 7,000 pots of daffodils around Boston takes more than two people. Every year, volunteers around Boston help out with packing and putting stickers on the pots.
Some volunteers do even more than that to create a sense of community around the marathon; Sue Roche, a volunteer of Boston Strong Marathon Daffodils for three years and a close friend of Valle’s, dresses up the “Make Way For The Ducklings” statues in Boston Common every year.
Originally sculpted by Nancy Schön, the ducklings are an iconic part of the park. Three years ago, Roche started putting hats, medals and even running shoes on the ducklings in Boston-marathon colors, yellow and blue. For last year’s marathon, Roche added signs with names of different neighborhoods throughout the track; this year, she added a finish line in front of the ducklings as though they are finishing the race as well.
Not only is this mini-project within Boston Strong Marathon Daffodils’ larger mission gratifying, but it is also building unity within the Boston community.
“I am getting dressed to sit on the park bench so that I can watch the engagement of all different types of people from all different parts of the world and see them come together,” Roche said. “It gets emotional for me because it’s amazing what one small act of showing up can do for the community.”
Building a community up after a tragedy means looking back at the past as well as trying to honor hopefulness in the present; the tragedy should be remembered, and the unity should be celebrated, Piscitelli said
“At this time of the year, daffodils are incredibly sturdy,” Valle said.“They’re cheerful, and they are a symbol of hope.”
