Locking down love has never been easy in Toronto, but a new Distillery District landmark hopes to change that.

The romantic rite of festooning bridges and fences with hand-decorated padlocks — or love locks — was first challenged three years ago by City of Toronto parks staff, who have repeatedly snipped them off the Humber Bridge with clippers.

“Esthetically, they just don’t look good,” said city parks manager Kevin Bowser after the locks began appearing on the lakeside pass in December 2011. All but three were cut off.

But, like any good romance, the pursuit of the lovelorn was relentless. In matter of weeks new locks dangled from the bridge with fresh sentiments such as “Soul meets soul on lovers lips” and “Nadia, Je t’aime beaucoup.”

Parks staff haven’t flinched. Locks are hacked from the Humber Bridge about once a year, a city representative told the Star, ensuring that the pedestrian bridge remains clear.

But now, a new love lock locale safe from municipal clippers has opened up in the Distillery District. Erected in July, the 9-metre long installation spells out the word “love” before a red brick backdrop, inviting visitors to latch on a token of their emotions.

The installation is made of steel and local reclaimed lumber, which keeps in line with the Distillery’s industrial-chic vibe. Hundreds of locks already hang from metal mesh inside the bold capital letters and an adjacent heart.

Similar love lock landmarks have popped up around the world, from Florence’s Ponte Vecchio to the Great Wall of China. In Paris, the Pont des Arts footbridge — sometimes called Lovers’ Bridge — has been so overloaded with little locks that it began to buckle under the weight in early June, forcing an emergency evacuation.

The issue has hit near ubiquity in Paris, the world’s unofficial love-lock capital, where an estimated eight bridges and even the top floor of the Eiffel Tower have been swamped by locks. An anti-lock group, No Love Locks, has sprouted to lobby against what it describes as a “plague.”

Fortunately for Toronto lockers, the Distillery site is free-standing and cannot pose any structural risks no matter how much love swells. It’s unclear whether the installation will be a permanent attraction, but no end date has been set.

“We have no plans on taking it away. I think we want to see it grow and see what becomes of it both esthetically and in terms of how people continue to be engaged by it,” said neighbourhood developer Mathew Rosenblatt, the installation’s creator.

A nearby furniture store, Biltmore Domicile, sells locks for about $5 each and has a table of decorations. However, visitors are encouraged to bring their own customized locks from home if they choose.

“The whole experience of it is more meaningful if they spend a little more time and effort on it, and certainly more fun,” Rosenblatt said.

The idea attracted art teacher Marisa Fabroa and her husband Eric, who will celebrate their 10-year anniversary this month. In early July the couple used purple and blue nail polish to decorate three locks with their daughter Audrey, 7, and son Max, 2. On one they wrote “Fab Four,” a moniker the Toronto family has adopted. On another they scrawled “M + E” to commemorate their decade together.

“We leave a little bit of art wherever we go,” said Marisa Fabroa over the phone from New York City, where the vacationing family recently tied a string to the Brooklyn Bridge. “We’re going to start a new tradition.”

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The Markham high school art teacher says the public expression of love is something she’d love to adopt in to her curriculum.

“I’m always looking for things we can do with our kids,” she said.