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Spreading holiday joy with flowers

By Darby Hinkley 4 min read

ALPENA -- Working retail during the busy Christmas season can be hard, and Wilson's Lasting Expressions has been perking up downtown businesses with a little floral fun.

During December, the flower shop started delivering a free arrangement to a downtown business, then having that business nominate the next business to receive a surprise arrangement, and so on.

"We kind of got the idea of spreading a little holiday cheer, and what do we do? We make flowers," said Tara Wilson, owner of Wilson's Lasting Expressions on the corner of 3rd Avenue and Washington Avenue in Alpena. "We wanted to do something for the downtown businesses, but also draw attention to the downtown businesses."

She said they started with Bella Rose, and then let each nominated business select the next recipient. They have been posting the nominations and recipients on their Facebook page as well.

"It's interactive, and it's fun to see who gets it next, and we go to each place, drop off the arrangement, meet the owner … give the arrangement, and let the public follow it, and I think people are enjoying that, too," Wilson said.

On Tuesday, Tala Barton was surprised and delighted to receive a gift arrangement at State Farm Insurance downtown. To top it off, it was her birthday.

"This is very nice, thank you," she told Wilson, who delivered the flowers personally. "I think it's very nice to spread the cheer around, because the downtown businesses work very hard, especially during this season. I see a lot people out and about, and it's a hard time of year on retail, and they deserve it."

Olivet Book and Gift was another recipient of a floral arrangement from Lasting Expressions.

"During these days, when we are so pressed on every side and really trying to put our best foot forward every day, we just sometimes get tired, and when they walked in with this arrangement, and I had been nominated by another fellow neighbor retailer, it was just like frosting on the cake," said Mary Rajasekhar, owner of Olivet Book and Gift in downtown Alpena. "It made the whole day so warm and fuzzy, and I so appreciated it."

Wilson hopes this gesture will inspire others to spread holiday cheer.

"The idea, also, is to encourage or inspire other people," Wilson said. "It's small things. Flowers make people happy. It's not something that's huge or grand. We're not spending thousands of dollars, it's a small gesture that can make a big difference."

This the first year Lasting Expressions has done this festive program, but they hope to continue and expand it in the future.

"We have a little bit of a newer team this year, so we have some new ideas, and we're, kind of, capitalizing on those, and having fun with it," Wilson said. "This is one of them. It's been really fun."

She said they personalize each arrangement to make it coordinate with that business. For example, the State Farm arrangement was red and white to represent their colors, and the Olivet arrangement was white with an angel because that is a Christian bookstore.

"When we did Cedar and Threads, I cut out a little Sasquatch, because he's got all those Sasquatches around," Wilson said, adding that the arrangement for the Bluebird Boutique was blue, and so on. "That's the fun part for us, too, is looking at each individual business and personalizing it for them."

Other recipients included the Black Sheep Pub, Cabin Creek Coffee, Noise and Toys, Bob's Bullpen, and more.

"We just wanted to do something fun for the community that would benefit and inspire," Wilson said. "We'll probably do it again, for sure, next year."

She said next year they will likely expand to a different area of town, but they have not decided where their focus will be just yet.

"I think there's potential to keep it going in different ways," Wilson said. "It's fun. We're all in this community together, so it's nice to support and connect with each other."

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