'Beacon of hope': Residents erect massive glowing heart on Nova Scotia highway

Perched atop a rocky cliff on the edge of a busy highway just outside Halifax is a massive glowing red heart.

It was placed there by a group of Bedford, N.S., residents as a tribute to front-line workers and a symbol of community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The heart's location — just past the on-ramp from Hammonds Plains Road overlooking the northbound lanes of Highway 102 — should be familiar to many locals.

It's also home to Charlie, an underwhelming and endearingly unremarkable roadside Christmas tree that has delighted commuters every holiday season for the past 20 years.

Ed McHugh, whose family decorates the tree on the edge of his property, recently teamed up with a few friends to give Charlie a cliffmate.

They dubbed the makeshift heart Valery, a name that has Latin origins meaning brave, strong and health.

McHugh said Valery is a "beacon of hope."

"People need some good news. I'm not trying to trivialize then how serious the situation is at all, but people need to see signs that other people care," said McHugh, whose wife Shelly is a nurse who came out of retirement to help during the pandemic.

"I think Valery stands for that sentiment — that we're all in this together, and we all need to take care of each other and we all need to be kind."

McHugh had been receiving messages from members of the public suggesting that he resurrect Charlie — named after Charlie Brown's famously skimpy tree — to offer a symbol of hope during the health crisis.

He mentioned this to his friend and neighbour Ross Lloy, but conceded lighting a Christmas tree didn't seem quite right.

That's when Lloy came up with the idea for the heart, which also seeks to honour front-line workers helping to keep people safe and keep society running.

"It just felt like a warm and positive way to say thanks," said Lloy, who then got to work on constructing the 3.5-metre tall heart.

Lloy used wood to shape the heart, and painted it white. He then affixed a string of red tube Christmas lights.

With the help of a few more friends and a pickup truck, Valery was then brought to the McHugh residence Wednesday evening to make the short trek through the woods to the cliff.

As he does each year for Charlie, McHugh laid 180 metres of extension cord along the way. The towering and heavy structure was then secured in place.

"It was a bit of a project. It wasn't something that was just slapped up there. It was quite a few hours of labour to get that little heart constructed," said McHugh, adding it was all done while practising physical distancing.

McHugh's Facebook post about Valery has received thousands of likes and shares from people all over the world.

In it, the Newfoundland native asks that people "barmp" when they see the heart, a term synonymous in his home province with honking one's car horn.

"The reaction has just been overwhelming and humbling," said McHugh. "I just hope it brightens people's day."