It’s spring.
Last week, more than 100,000 avid gardeners and flower aficionados attended the sixth annual Canada Blooms festival at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
As part of the program, the Ontario Flower Growers (OFG) sponsored a student floral design competition on March 14, for students enrolled in floristry programs at Ontario colleges. OFG is a co-operative which organizes marketing, sales and distribution of floral products to wholesalers and retailers.
There were two competitions -- wedding design and theme arrangement -- and teams from four colleges took part. Algonquin (Ottawa) and Seneca (Toronto) entered teams from their full-time floristry programs, while Mohawk (Hamilton) and Conestoga entered from their part-time programs.
Retail Florist program student Sasha Wilbur of Waterloo took home the first-place ribbon and plaque for Conestoga in the wedding design category. Also entered from Conestoga were Pat Doyle of Waterloo and Michelle Seip of Kitchener. Likewise, three Conestoga students were in the theme arrangement category -- Jill Dunbrook of Waterloo, and Lindsay Clymans and Vildana Glisic of Kitchener. In each instance, it was a timed contest, with materials and information supplied by the OFG and judging done by a panel of Canada Blooms management personnel.
Retail Florist is a part-time, certificate-level program consisting of six core courses -- dealing mainly with design, management and sales for the floral industry -- plus one elective course and two field-placement components in the retail industry.
CONTACT: Gillian Oldfield, 519-748-5220, ext. 3634 <goldfield@conestogac.on.ca>