Vincent Petrovsky, florist from West Palm Beach, Florida, will spend six days in the Netherlands. He won the Holland Cup, a floral design contest held this year for the first time in New York City from July 3rd to the 7th,during the AIFD National Symposium.
It was an overwhelming experience for Vincent. Prior to the awards ceremony during the president's dinner, he took off his dress shoes and paraded around spontaneously wearing his newly acquired wooden shoes. There he stood in his elegant tuxedo, top hat and white gloves, wearing large, yellow wooden shoes – the traditional footwear of Dutch farmers.
15 finalists
It was quite a sight. However, for Vince, it didn't matter. He was delighted with his 'title', a trip for two to Holland and the $ 500 in spending money that went with the award
During the last round Vince had to compete against 14 other contestants, including two Japanese florists – demonstrating their talents to an audience of hundreds of florists and a panel of three judges.
A swinging event
All contestants had the same assignment (a bridal bouquet, a hand-tied bouquet and a vase arrangement) and had to use identical materials. The fresh flowers had been flown in the previous day directly from Holland. The well-known American designer, Joseph Smith, and the Dutch arranger, Els Teunissen (who lives in Iowa, by the way) hosted the final, complete with swinging Dutch music and an incredibly enthusiastic audience.
A success
After AIFD ended, many compliments were received regarding the event and its excellent execution. The Flower Council of Holland expressed its satisfaction in being a co-organizer of the event with AIFD. Area manager Marjo Verheijen: 'It went extremely well – nearly perfect. There were some minor glitches, but that's natural when you organize this type of event for the first time.'
The start of something good
Marjo: 'What I really liked was the reaction to our Dutch Flower Shop, which was on display at the four day AIFD symposium. Our idea was to provide a real life demonstration of the product assortment, quality and ambiance of a European flower shop. We succeeded and received many positive reactions! The best compliment came from a florist who looked around at our European Flower Shop and then confided in me, breathlessly, I’m going home to burn my shop down and am building an exact replica of this one!'
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