California Floral Industry

2013 Legislative Action Day - Huge Success!

The California State Floral Association (CSFA) joined together with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and legislative and agriculture leaders for a celebration of California Agriculture Day on Wednesday, March 20th at the State Capitol.

A special thank you to our Ag Day Co-chairs, Allan Nishita and Marty Espe, Floral Fresh, Inc. for all their efforts in procuring the tremendous volume of gorgeous product that was distributed to every attendee waiting in line. CSFA would like to thank the California flower industry for donating the beautiful legislative bouquets.   A huge thank you to the following schools and their students that designed over 3000 bouquets which were passed out at the event: Delta High School, Elk Grove High School, Esparto High School, Pleasant Grove High School and Woodland High School. Karen Genoud AIFD, CCF, Mt. Vernon Florist, and her staff created the gorgeous designs that were delivered to the Governor, Lt. Governor, President Protem, Speaker of the Assembly and the Secretary of Agriculture, as well as the brilliant designs that graced the stage at the Capitol.

The day began with the students visiting the office of Secretary of Agriculture, Karen Ross. It was truly a delight to observe Secretary Ross with all of the student volunteers. She expressed her appreciation for all that they do every day as Ambassadors for California Agriculture.   

Students visiting with Secretary of Agriculture Karen Ross

Ag Day 2013 was a huge success. Approximately forty-six booths were set up on the West side of the Capitol showcasing the wonderful diversity of agriculture in California. This is a highly anticipated activity for not only the Legislative staffers but others with offices in the downtown area. Products including strawberries, cheese, deviled eggs, and tri tip sandwiches could be sampled. However, as the long lines confirmed, the tradition continues with the CSFA booth being the favorite choice of attendees as they waited in line to take home a bouquet of beautiful California grown flowers!    

Kasey Cronquist CEO/Ambassador CCFC, Richard Gourd, President, CSFA, Catherine Zikakis, Past President, CSFA, Ann Quinn CSFA EVP and Student Ambassadors  preparing to deliver bouquets to Legislative offices

CSFA President, Richard Gourd, noted, "What a tremendous opportunity it is to be able to participate in California Ag Day and have so much fun distributing all of the flowers to over 3000 people who attended and visited our booth. The goodwill that was demonstrated by the California Floral Industry was priceless!" 

 Delivering a floral design to Governor Jerry Brown
and meeting his dog "Sutter".

The day closed with a "Salute To Ag" legislative dinner hosted by Ag Association Management Services and sixteen of our I Street Associations including CSFA at the Sutter Club in downtown Sacramento
. Richard Gourd, Wilton Lee, Catherine Zikakis and Ann Quinn represented CSFA at this Legislative Dinner. Dennis Albiani and Chris Zanobini, brought together several Legislators including Senator Cathleen Galgiani and Assembly Members: Richard Bloom, Brian Dahle, Tom Daly, Marc Levine, José Medina, and Bill Quirk to mingle and get to know our members and learn more of the issues that are of concern to us. There was a high energy level in the room and all would agree that it was a very successful event.  

Volunteers passing out floral bouquets

The California Floral Industry would like to thank the following companies for their generous donation of beautiful product for this event:

Legislative Action Day 2013 Product Sponsors

A & M Flower Growers, Inc. 
California Pajarosa  
CallaCo         
Central Coast Greenhouses, Inc.
Coastal Floral    
Colibri  
Dos Gringos   
Eufloria Flowers   
Ever-Bloom, Inc.  
Flora Fresh, Inc.  
FlorExpo   
Glad-A-Way Gardens   
Green Valley Floral, Inc.
Hilltop Flowers  
Holland America Flowers     
Kendall Farms   
Lake Flowers
Mellano & Company
Myriad Flowers International
Newport Wholesale
Pacific Growers
O&J
Ocean Breeze
Onitsuka Greenhouse
Pacific Growers
Rainbow Protea
Resendiz Brothers
The Sun Valley Group
West Flowers
Yamashita Flower Farm

Ag Day Stage

And to the following Sponsors - Thank you for supporting our industry!

2013 Legislative Action Day
Sponsors

On behalf of the California Floral Industry, we would like to thank the following companies for co-sponsoring this event:

California Association of Flower Growers & Shippers
California Cut Flower Commission
California Flower Shippers, Inc.
California State Floral Association
Flora Fresh, Inc.
Growers Logistics LLC
Master Florists Association
Mt. Vernon Flower Shop
Relles Florist
San Francisco Brannan Street Wholesale
Teleflora

Each Legislative office was delivered a bouquet of flowers with the following information displayed in each bouquet:

California Flower Industry

 Eager Student Ambassadors