By Bill Schodowski
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me get it out of my system first…..Best In Show!!! There…now I feel better! Transflora/DVFG won the prestigious Best in Show Award in the 2010 Outstanding Varieties competition at the recent SAF Convention in Orlando, FL. Our beautiful Jiuhbao Sweetie was awarded the top prize….beating out 238 other entries.
Now, in truth, my photo does not do Sweetie justice. It is an amazing specimen that captured the hearts of the judges and the SAF attendees. Transflora has won it’s fair share of ribbons in the past….however this is special. Best in Show is the highest award given. I think its a pretty cool happening for the Wilkins family who have dedicated a lifetime to our industry. It was a hard fought competition as there were many worthy flower varieties entered in this year’s competition. One of the many benefits of winning this award is being featured on the cover of the November issue of SAF’s Floral Management. Now, what was that Captain Hook song from the ’70’s? Cover of the Rolling St…never mind.
I took a ton of photos at SAF this year…and if you attended…hopefully they will rekindle good memories. If you didn’t attend…you should have. Plain & simple…you should have been there. This was the perfect convention. The crowd was the right mix of retailers, wholesalers, growers and importers. The programs were well thought out and on target. The facility was great and the social events gave the attendees plenty of opportunity to network and exchange ideas. During the course of my travels, I hear from industry friends that they can’t afford to attend…or they can’t afford to leave their operation. Perhaps we should view the rapidly changing landscape of our business and ask ourselves….can we afford NOT to attend? Our industry is changing at a rapid clip. If you are doing the same things you were doing ten years ago…chances are you are losing at the game. You need to re-tool…to re-energize…to re-group…to re-connect.
DVFG set up a flower suite at the hotel for the benefit of the early arrivals to have a place to congregate before the start of the SAF convention. This year it was a joint effort between DVWF and Transflora. We had some truly spectacular product on display…plus it allowed the DVFG crew in attendance (Bob Wilkins, Jack Chidester, John Richards, Paul Fowle, Laurie Lemek and myself) a place to meet & greet the attendees. Here are a few pics taken of the flower suite.
To see some pictures of our suite check out our Facebook page.
need to give special “shout outs” to those that made the flower suite a reality. Anyone that has ever worked off site on a project knows that there is no place like home. We encountered more than a few issues with the load in…but special kudos’ go to Harry Copeland of Debbie’s Wholesale/Harry’s Famous Flowers in Orlando for handling the movement of product from Miami to the hotel…and out again on Thursday night. The convention hotel, the Omni, could not have positioned our suite more distant from the loading docks…and from the elevators. Thanks, Harry for going the “extra mile”!
Old friend, Jill Weishaupt and new friends, Georgianne & Kevin Vinicombe, Monday Morning Flowers, Princeton, NJ who jumped in and moved boxes, cut flowers and merchandised the room. Even my lovely Maggie who was drafted into the process and learned first hand why manicures should only happen after the dirty work is finished.
