On Christmas Eve, Scott Brooks worked all morning and into the afternoon, making his last delivery at 2:36 p.m. in Windsor.
He took Christmas Day off, but on Dec. 26, he was back in his shop, getting ready for the next holiday — Valentine’s Day. The challenge: to estimate in December how many long-stemmed roses people will want to buy in February, so that he has enough to meet demand.
The order had to be in by Dec.29.
Valentine’s Day is one of the two biggest days of the year for sales at the Clinton Flower Shop, where Scott has worked for 30 years. When he bought the flower shop in 1996, he was 33 years old and had never owned a business
“It was a big leap,” he said.
The Clinton Flower Shop is the oldest continuously operating retail florist in the area, but the florist business was new to Scott when friends hired him to manage the flower shop in 1993. Scott had been working at the Sheriff’s Office as communications officer and dispatcher for eight years. The Williams hired him to keep the books.
“That was all I was supposed to do,” he said.
Scott said he learned floral design out of necessity when someone came into the shop and needed flowers for a funeral.
“All the designers had left when the call came in,” he said. “I had to make one, and I did.
“I still have a picture of it somewhere.”
The arrangement was presentable, he said, and with practice, he got more confident with his skills. Three years later, he bought the flower shop, which has had a variety of locations, names and owners. Wayne and Virginia Williams started the Clinton Flower Shop in 1977. They sold it in 1990 to Jeff and Cindy Lytty, who were part owners of Consalus Funeral Home. They sold it to Scott’s friends, Jim and Connie Fowler.
The shop was located on Ohio Street, then moved to Washington, where it was Mary Ann’s Flower Shop on the Square. Mary Anne’s and the Clinton Flower Shop eventually merged, and in 2007, Scott moved the Clinton Flower Shop to its present location, 218 S. Third. Formerly the Sickman and Dunning Funeral Home, it has more elbow room to arrange flowers and cooler space to store them, and also has living quarters on the second floor, where Scott lives.
Scott is not far from where he grew up in Calhoun. He graduated from Calhoun High School in 1981. His mother was an organist, and Scott inherited her ear for music. He started playing for services at Calhoun Baptist Church, he said, then was the organist at First Assembly of God for 13 years, at First Baptist Church for 15 years, and at the UMC in Windsor. He is now the keyboardist at Grace Fellowship in Cole Camp.
The other big day in the florist biz is Mother’s Day, Scott said. With few exceptions, he doesn’t do weddings on Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, but never says no to funerals. One year, the shop handled flower arrangements for 17 funerals in one week, he said, which is still a record.
“It was also the week of Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, I don’t remember which,” he said
Florists like to plan, he said, but funerals turn plans into chaos. Normally, he has two part-time designers and another delivery driver working with him. But Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day require 20 people working at the shop, he said. Extra people are needed to take phone orders and schedule the seven or eight delivery vans.
“People like Valentine’s Day roses to send to them at work, so everybody can see them,” he said.
To make all the flower arrangements, Scott has friends who are floral designers and help him out. One time, he said, they worked through the night, and went home to shower and change. Then they came back to work at 8 a.m. and stayed until 5, he said.
Scott also makes road trips at night to his wholesalers in Springfield and Kansas City to pick up flowers, he said. When the police officers were killed in Clinton, he called his suppliers and said, “I don’t know what I’m going to need, but I’m going to need a lot of it.”
Calls came as far away as New York, from a florist who ordered flowers on behalf of the New York Yankees. The team sends flowers whenever a police officer anywhere in the country is killed in the line of duty, he learned.
During the Gulf Wars, Scott got calls from soldiers on satellite phones ordering Valentine Day bouquets for wives and girlfriends. The Clinton Flower Shop provided the flowers at no charge, he said.
“It was the least we could do,” he said.
Years later, a young man came into the shop and said he was one of the soldiers who had ordered flowers and was not charged. The man said he had always remembered that and was back to order flowers for his wedding, Scott said.
The wedding market is not what it used to be, Scott said, due to people doing their own flowers or having the venue do them. But he keeps busy providing flowers for business openings, anniversaries, retirement parties, birth of a child and birthdays. He also provides floral services for eight funeral homes, he said, including in Appleton City, Warsaw, Windsor, Lincoln and Osceola, which no longer has a florist shop.
“We never know what’s going to come through the door,” he said of the business. “It’s a roller coaster of emotions.”
November is also a busy month for Scott. He can’t remember how long he has been part of the Turkey Talkers, who arrange for Thanksgiving dinners to be delivered in the community. He started out delivering dinners when the meals were prepared at the Holy Rosary Church kitchen in the basement, he said. It’s now prepared at the Clinton Senior Center, which has the benefit of not having stairs. Scott is now part of the Turkey Talkers committee of six who start planning on November 1.
“That’s when we start taking reservations for deliveries and lining up donations,” he said.
His order for Valentine’s Day: 2,675 long-stemmed roses — 64 packs of red, 25 roses per pack, and 43 packs in other colors. When he started working at the flower shop, there were probably six or seven colors of roses, he said. Roses now come in more than 35 colors, including multi-colored: yellow with red edges, white with hot pink edges, red and white, and royal blue and white.
How many roses people will buy for Valentine’s Day depends on two things. One is the weather, he said, which you can’t predict -- bad weather puts a damper on sales.
The other factor is what day of the week Valentine’s Day falls on. This year it’s on a Wednesday, which is the biggest day of the week for rose orders, Scott said
“It’s not a day people celebrate in other ways, like going out to eat or going away for the weekend,” he explained.
Two years ago, Scott ran out of roses before Valentine’s Day, and had to drive to Bolivar to a supplier on the evening of Feb.13th to get more. The roses that had been ordered ahead of time had already been logged in, arranged and routed to go out for delivery, but he needed some in the cooler for people who called or came in on the actual day.
“It’s part of the job,” he said of the long days and late-night road trips, “and I live above the shop, so I don’t have far to go home.”
What he values about being a florist is being a part of people’s lives, and making contacts he wouldn’t have made in another job.
‘It makes it all worthwhile, whether the occasion is joyous or otherwise,” he said of the multi-generations of friends he had made. “I did their weddings, or their kids’ weddings, or their parents’ funerals.”
With the help of co-workers, including Janis Harrison and Donna Meyers, he has fine-tuned his skills at flower arranging. He also credits his stint as president of a three-state florist association, which sponsors two to three design shows a year. Other florists taught him techniques that make flower arranging easier, he said.
When he used to teach flower arranging at the Clinton Technical School, he told his students to keep playing with the arrangement until it is appealing to the eye, and don’t stress about it being perfect.
“Flowers make people happy,” he said, “That’s what’s important.”
“Every day is a good day to send flowers.”
To see the different colored roses available, go to the Clinton Flower Shop Facebook page. To consult with Scott about Valentine’s Day, call 660-885-6921.
Interested in learning more about flower arranging? Scott will be the featured speaker at the February 20 luncheon of the Christian Women’s Club. The CWC meets at the First Assembly of God, 1506 E. Ohio, at 11:45 a.m. Everyone is welcome to attend. Make reservations for lunch by Feb. 16 by emailing debdolly.30@gmail.com or calling 660-885-5918. Cost is $12 for catered lunch (hot entree, side dish, salad, dessert and drink) by Melinda Dehn.
