Valentine display pops up outside museum in Scranton

SCRANTON — Hundreds of large red valentine hearts decorate the snowy grounds of the Everhart Museum in Nay Aug Park.

Frank Dubas placed them there as part of his fourth annual sweetheart street-art display, which this year he relocated from his nonprofit Garden of Cedar lot in South Scranton to the grounds of the Everhart.

Dubas started installing this year’s crop of hearts at the Everhart on Wednesday with a batch of 100 and continued Thursday with another 200 — all of which were leftover “greatest hits” hearts from prior displays at the Garden of Cedar in the 700 block of Cedar Avenue.

Hearts inscribed with names and messages for Valentines Day are installed by Scranton reisident Frank Dubas on the lawn area in front of the Everhart Museum in Scranton Thursday, January 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Dubas also has received many requests from the public for hearts this year that he will place in the ground outside of the museum in coming days and weeks.

“We’ll fill in (the grounds) as they (heart requests) come in,” Dubas said.

He again expects to end up with a few thousand 1-foot-tall hearts by Valentine’s Day.

“I’m heartened by the amount of goodwill that’s expressed out there” as written on the hearts, Dubas said. “Here we are in a cold and bleak season and we put a little color — in this case red — on the landscape. It’s a wonderful community response.”

This year, Dubas also will put out a batch of 2-foot-tall hearts, each adorned with artwork by students from various local schools. One of those hearts, from the NativityMiguel School of Scranton, features a classroom motif and the words “Love to Learn.”

A large valentine heart featuring artwork by students of the Nativity Miguel school that Frank Dubas will put on display with other hearts outside of the Everhart Museum in Scranton. (PHOTO PROVIDED / COURTESY OF FRANK DUBAS)

To get a free valentine heart inscribed with names or messages, see the Garden of Cedar’s website, gardenofcedar.org, or its Facebook page.

Dubas changed the location this year for several reasons, including to do a pop-up art installation at the Everhart that hopefully would prompt visitors to also check out the museum, and because the park and museum have more parking and winter grounds maintenance that would give the public more ability to access the display than at the smaller Garden of Cedar lot.

“We’re thrilled clearly to have it here. I know how popular it was in South Side,” Everhart Museum CEO Tim Holmes said. “When someone comes to see their heart, they’re here and they can come inside” and see everything the museum has to offer.

The museum already has been having a banner January, with an exhibit on the sitcom “The Office,” a popular toy train exhibit titled “Scranton to Scale: Don Clark’s Miniature Memories,” and a NASA exhibit on the Hubble and Webb space telescopes.

Tim Holmes, CEO of the Everhart Museum in Scranton, stands amid a NASA exhibit at the museum, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Part of a NASA exhibit at the Everhart Museum, in Scranton on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)

And now come the hearts.

“We’re kind of clicking on all cylinders,” Holmes said.

For information on the Everhart Museum, see its website at everhart-museum.org.

After starting to put hearts out at the museum Wednesday afternoon, Dubas returned Thursday morning to find a large snow heart that someone created on part of the museum lawn, apparently inspired by his nearby valentine hearts display.

“I was walking in and I saw that and I said, ‘That looks interesting,’” Dubas said of the snow heart. “Someone likes what we’re doing.”

Frank Dubas stands inside of a large snow heart that someone made on the grounds of the Everhart Museum at Nay Aug Park in Scranton, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. The snow heart appears to have been inspired by a nearby display of red valentine hearts that Dubas placed outside of the museum. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Hearts inscribed with names and messages for Valentines Day are...

Scranton resident Frank Dubas installs hearts inscribed with names and messages for Valentines Day on the lawn area in front of the Everhart Museum in Scranton Thursday, January 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Scranton resident Frank Dubas installs hearts inscribed with names and messages for Valentine’s Day on the lawn area in front of the Everhart Museum in Scranton Thursday, January 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Frank Dubas installs a batch of valentine hearts for display on the grounds of the Everhart Museum at Nay Aug Park in Scranton on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)

One of the few hundred valentine hearts put on display by Frank Dubas on the grounds of the Everhart Museum at Nay Aug Park in Scranton on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)

Frank Dubas installs a batch of valentine hearts for display on the grounds of the Everhart Museum at Nay Aug Park in Scranton on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)

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Valentine display pops up outside museum in Scranton

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