Award sponsor Brad Beck, PFCI, right, of Design Master color tool, inc, and Floral Management Editor in Chief and SAF Chief Content Officer Kate Penn went to the American Grown Field to Vase dinner in Waterford, Virginia, to presented the $5,000 cash prize to Marketer of the Year award winner Kasey Cronquist, PFCI.
Hurricane Irma may have delayed the presentation of a $5,000 award to the 2017 Floral Management Marketer of the Year winner, but last weekend this year’s prize-winning campaign finally got its turn in the spotlight, in a spectacular and totally appropriate setting.
Hope Flower Farm in Waterford, Virginia, hosted the Society of American Florists for a special presentation of the coveted award to the American Grown Flowers Field to Vase Dinner Tour, during one of this year’s final Field to Vase dinners.
The October 8th dinner at Hope Well Farm was the group’s 23rd dinner since launching the series in 2015, and according to Kasey Cronquist, PFCI, CEO of the California Cut Flower Commission, it represented the culmination of years of hard work and big dreams finally coming into fruition.
“I think lots of people are familiar with farm to table dinner concepts, but there hadn’t been a translation to what that means for flowers until we started these events,” explained Cronquist, who runs the dinner series.
The annual dinner series invites consumers to dine on-site at flower farm or greenhouse and experience local food and beverages and, of course, local flowers and plants.
It’s an effort that Bradley Beck, AAF, PFCI, of DESIGN MASTER color tool, inc., called inspiring both for its ambition and its results.
“What really impresses me is the growers who participate in this program say they have seen an increase in their business and that more consumers are now asking for Certified American Grown Flowers,” he said, before presenting the prize money to Cronquist. “Your dream of creating a field to vase program has been very successful.”
Design Master has sponsored the $5,000 prize money since the annual Marketer of the Year award’s inception 24 years ago.
Check out a video of the presentation, which includes an interview with Holly Chapple, founder of Hope Flower Farm and Holly Heider Chapple Flowers, and read the full story on the campaign and its successes.
