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Falls Church has unveiled a towering new LOVE sculpture designed to reflect both the people standing before it and the city’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and community connection.
Mayor Letty Hardi, City Council members, city staff, arts leaders and the installation’s creators gathered Oct. 22, 2025, for the unveiling between City Hall at 300 Park Ave. and the historic Cherry Hill Farmhouse.
Created as part of the city’s 75th-anniversary celebration, the permanent installation is titled “Reflection: Diversity and Inclusivity.” Its polished steel letters allow visitors to see themselves in the artwork, while the brightly painted “O” presents a collage of Falls Church landmarks and residents.
The sculpture also joins the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s statewide LOVEworks program, an extension of the “Virginia is for Lovers” brand.
An employee’s idea becomes public art
The project began with a competition open to city employees. Nine proposals were submitted in 2024, four advanced as finalists and the winning design was approved in May after review through the city’s public-art process.
Housing and Human Services Manager Ripal Patel developed the selected concept. Local painter and former Falls Church school crossing guard Bill Abel created the artwork covering the “O.”
DS Metal Works, Composition Systems, Colours Imaging, Falls Church Art & Frame and the Department of Public Works helped turn their concept into the finished installation.
Cindy Mester, the city’s director of community relations and legislative affairs, said the anniversary project was intended to recognize Falls Church’s past and present while looking toward its future. The city’s goal, she said, was to create something that expressed its aspiration to remain welcoming to everyone.
Its location was carefully chosen. City Hall represents civic life, while the neighboring Cherry Hill Farmhouse, built in 1848, provides a connection to local history. The sculpture also stands near a formal garden planted during the nation’s bicentennial.
The site regularly draws people for the weekly farmers market, seasonal celebrations, weddings and receptions. Officials expect the sculpture to become a popular setting for family photographs and visitor selfies.
Reflections inspired by human-services work
Patel said his work in the city’s Housing and Human Services office shaped the design.
His department regularly meets people from varied backgrounds who need assistance or hope to find housing in Falls Church. Because space and housing are limited, not everyone who wants to live in the small city can do so.
Patel wanted those visitors to feel represented even if they could not secure a home there. The mirrored letters became his way of bringing them into the artwork: Anyone standing before the sculpture can see themselves as part of the image.
The illustrated “O” expands on that idea. Its scenes include children, dogs, schools, a theater and a wheelchair user, along with recognizable parts of the community.
Patel does not have formal training in art or engineering, though he previously did some web design while pursuing his master’s degree. He credited colleagues who entered the competition and contributed ideas, saying each proposal reflected considerable effort and a personal vision of Falls Church.
Because Abel now lives in North Carolina, the pair collaborated largely through telephone and Microsoft Teams conversations. They discussed the scenes, colors and community details that should appear in the final work.
Patel said City Hall and Cherry Hill Farmhouse provide an ideal backdrop. After arriving nervous on the morning of the unveiling, he said he was grateful to see the completed design finally installed.
A challenging canvas with no center
Abel lived in Falls Church from 2004 to 2020 and became familiar to many families as a school crossing guard. He now lives in Flat Rock, North Carolina, where he teaches watercolor painting and yoga and works as a first-grade teacher’s aide.
A largely self-taught artist who has painted for more than 30 years, Abel has also attended workshops and assisted watercolor artist Tony Van Hasselt during plein-air programs in several states. More recently, much of his work has involved commissioned portraits and pet paintings.
Creating the sculpture’s “O” posed an unusual technical problem: Abel had never painted a composition with its entire center missing.
He produced the original image at roughly 30 inches by 30 inches using gouache, an opaque watercolor medium he had not used for a finished painting before. Knowing the piece would be greatly enlarged, he chose intense colors that could retain their impact at monumental scale.
The final composition depicts people sharing public spaces and incorporates local landmarks. Washington’s Capitol, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial appear in the distance, emphasizing Falls Church’s proximity to the nation’s capital.
Abel said the shape of the “O” suited the theme because its circle ties the scenes together. The letter is both an integral part of the word “LOVE” and an open form capable of holding many pieces of the community.
Until the covering came off, Abel had not seen how his painting looked on the completed sculpture. He had seen the other mirrored letters, however, and praised their sharp construction and the effect created when people and their surroundings appeared across the reflective surfaces.
Abel initially doubted whether he could complete the commission and at one point told Patel and Mester that it might be beyond his abilities. Their encouragement persuaded him to continue.
Speaking unexpectedly during the ceremony, Abel said the finished work grew from the affection and support he experienced while living in Falls Church. The community had helped sustain him during difficult periods, he said, and he realized how much he missed it after leaving in 2020.
A 75th-birthday symbol unveiled
Before the sculpture was revealed, Hardi described it as a fitting conclusion to the city’s anniversary celebration and a reflection of a community built on connection.
She said the installation adds a distinctly Falls Church entry to the hundreds of official LOVE signs across Virginia. Beyond beautifying a public space, she argued, public art can build civic pride, attract visitors and support the local economy.
Every photograph taken at the site can help tell the story of what she called a small city with a big heart, Hardi said. She also celebrated the fact that the idea emerged from an employee art competition and developed through collaboration between municipal workers and a local artist.
Patel told the audience that he wanted every visitor to feel included in both the sculpture and the city. Standing in front of the mirrored design, he said, should feel like entering into a conversation with the artwork.
Following a countdown, organizers released blue tarps covering the letters. The polished “L,” “V” and “E” immediately caught the blue sky and autumn foliage, creating an illusion in places that the steel structures had disappeared into the landscape. The audience greeted the reveal with applause.
Hardi later called the sculpture a meeting point between the arts and economic development. She said its emphasis on inclusion was especially meaningful amid political disputes over diversity, equity and inclusion, and described the installation as a visible reaffirmation of the city’s values.
Those principles should extend beyond public art, she added, influencing budgets, ordinances, projects and other policy decisions.
City Council member Laura Downs said the long-running project offered the city something joyful to celebrate. Its message, she said, was particularly relevant during a hostile political period because it emphasized cooperation, compromise and respect among people who disagree.
Downs also defended diversity in race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and other forms as a source of strength. Working with people from different backgrounds, she said, broadens understanding of the world.
Council member MaryBeth Connelly was struck by how the reflections drew viewers into the sculpture. From certain angles, the “E” appeared transparent even though it was mirroring the scene before it. She predicted that children would especially enjoy moving and dancing in front of the letters.
A destination for LOVE-sign travelers
Among the first visitors was Pam Runholt of Leesburg, who wore a “Virginia is for LOVE Sign Lovers” shirt and traveled to Falls Church after learning about the unveiling on Instagram.
Runholt and her husband take road trips in search of LOVE signs and have seen nearly 1,400 official and unofficial examples. Beyond the structures recognized by the Virginia Tourism Corporation, they have found homemade versions at wineries, breweries, stores and private homes.
She said the appeal comes from the individuality of each design and the way communities use the same four letters to express their own identities. Leesburg’s sculpture, for example, is made from bicycle parts in recognition of nearby cycling routes.
Falls Church’s version impressed her because its mirrored surface placed her reflection directly in the artwork. She also recognized local places in the painted “O,” including City Hall and the Eden Center.
The sculpture is now permanently accessible just off the sidewalk, ready to reflect farmers-market crowds, eventgoers, wedding parties, residents and travelers through the heart of Falls Church.