Portland’s Love Locks Project is Great Valentine’s Day Option [PHOTOS]

Like most things in downtown Portland, the Love Locks Project on Commercial Street has taken a beating with all of this snow and extreme cold this winter. But as Valentine's Day approaches, dozens of expressions of love glistened in the Wednesday morning sun.

For those of you who are not familiar with this, the Love Locks Project was started two years after a night of drinking in the Old Port by three friends who decided to place pad locks on a section of fence near the Portland Lobster Co, according to Maine Magazine.

Within a short time, the love locks wall was adopted by the Maine Center for Creativity and today the four sections of fence that overlook the Casco Bay Ferries are filled with locks that contain messages of love from couples, significant others, parents and children. According to Maine Magazine, people are supposed to throw the keys into the water after attaching their lock.

Anyone is welcome to affix a lock with a message of love at no charge. The Love Locks Project also gives people another option for Valentine's Day if they want to find a new way to spark romance beyond the usual greeting cards, boxes of chocolate and long stem red roses.

Have you placed a lock of love here for someone special? Share your comments on our Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #LoveLocksProject.