For the 22nd consecutive year, Germantown Avenue is about to explode with the color of flowers planted in windowboxes, barrels, hanging baskets, and parks by the staff and volunteers of the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund, the nonprofit dedicated to the beautification of the neighborhood they love.

On May 10, the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund will join with Germantown Avenue businesses to offer a new way for neighbors, visitors, and shoppers to celebrate the annual spectacle and contribute to the organization’s mission. During the daylong event, called “Sip & Shop: We Flower the Avenue,” 25 businesses on the Avenue (with more to come) will offer special food and drink, goods and services, and donate a portion of their revenue to support the fund.

“We can’t accomplish our mission of bringing the beauty of flowers to Chestnut Hill’s sidewalks, storefronts, lampposts, and pocket parks without the support of our friends and neighbors,” Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund President Emily Daeschler said. “This Sip & Shop event is an exciting new way for people who share our vision of a neighborhood in perpetual bloom to contribute to our efforts while having a ton of fun with friends and family on the Avenue.”

Local businesses participating in Sip & Shop: We Flower the Avenue include Char & Stave, Chestnut Hill Hotel, El Quetzal, Foliage, Garden State Tile, Giraffe, Gravers Lane Gallery, J. McLaughlin, Jennifer’s Leaf Yoga & Wellness Studio, LÄETE, The Little Gallery, McNally’s, Moondance Farm Studios, NoName Gallery, Occasionette, Robertson’s Flowers, Tailored Home, Tavern on the Hill, TC Unlimited, and Zipf’s Candies.

Mary Sprandio, Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund’s fundraising manager, said some of the special foods, drinks, goods, and services available during Sip & Shop: We Flower the Avenue will be inspired by flowers. These include flower-themed cocktails at both Foliage and McNally’s, a raffle for a Mother’s Day bouquet at Robertson’s, a flower-themed live artist demonstration at NoName Gallery, and a special workshop called “Planting Seeds: Community Spring Celebration” at Jennifer’s Leaf.

“We’re so grateful to all of the businesses and local residents that support the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund — their willingness to step up and support our community never fails to impress us.” Sprandio said. “This event is a perfect alignment: Just like the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund’s staff and volunteers, the enthusiasm and creativity of the businesses in this great neighborhood always make visiting the Avenue so special. We’re all in this together.”

For Germantown Avenue’s business owners, coming together to create Sip & Shop: We Flower the Avenue and support the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund makes perfect sense.

Georgia Forjohn, co-owner of the clothing boutique Giraffe and a member of the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund’s Board of Directors, said, “Flowers are a huge part of what draws people to Chestnut Hill and to my business. They help make this neighborhood feel like a beautiful village  — like something out of a storybook.” She added, “Our main street is kept so clean and neat and vibrant because of the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund. The businesses of the Avenue are so grateful for that.”

The timing of this event coincides with the beginning of the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund’s flagship event: the annual spring planting. Every spring, the organization mobilizes dozens of volunteers to join staff professionals in planting more than 5,000 flowering annuals for 32 storefront windowboxes and urns, more than 90 sidewalk planters, and about 70 baskets hanging from lampposts. These sites are located in Cliff Park, Memorial Park, and Peace Park, the three parklets at the bottom of the Hill that serve as a gateway to the neighborhood; in parking lots; and around the big welcome sign that greets the Hill’s visitors at Stenton Avenue.

Because the Avenue’s windowboxes and sidewalk planters are planted in late April and early May, people who come to Germantown Avenue to participate in Sip & Shop: We Flower the Avenue on May 10 will get an early taste of the distinctive palette of this year’s plantings. For the first time in the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund’s history, the plantings will be dominated by “jewel tones”: magenta, red, deep purple, electric blue, orange, and gold.

Daeschler said that the vibrant, tropical colors of this year’s plantings — exemplified by the hot pink geraniums visitors will see in windowboxes and hanging baskets — were the inspiration of Judy Larini, the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund’s streetscape gardener and the founder of Flower Powered Landscape Design.

For Daeschler, a longtime Chestnut Hill resident who has served as president of the Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund for more than two decades, the Sip & Shop: We Flower the Avenue event is more than a fundraiser.

“Sip & Shop is about awareness and making new connections,” she said. “We want people to know that what we do takes so much expertise, energy, time, and resources. And on May 10, we want to spend some time with our old friends — people who’ve been coming to Chestnut Hill for years — and meet some new friends. We can’t wait to see you there!