Provides are the very first thing Ashley Casas should sort out when prepping the long-lasting crepe blooms for the annual Battle of the Flowers parade.
“I order supplies months upfront — there’s merely no time to attend on one essential provide for a flower whereas we’re making them within the weeks previous to the parade,” Casas says.
Staying true to her cousin Rose Garcia’s Fiesta flower-making legacy was simple when Casas took over the corporate, which she renamed Our Mom’s Flowers, in 2023. Garcia ran a decent flower-making ship for greater than 50 years earlier than deciding to retire as head of the Fiesta flower-making “den” in 2022.
Now, Casas is devoted to making sure the household custom lives on in every handcrafted flower, meticulously formed by herself and 7 different ladies, “simply household,” Casas notes, who’re simply as devoted to element and Fiesta custom.
“As soon as I get the schematics for what every float seems to be like, that’s when the flower designs kick into excessive gear,” she says.
Design and shade prep begins in January; widespread colours are sometimes yellow, orange and royal blue, amongst others.
Casas estimates the flowers for the 2024 Battle of the Flowers parade will take about 9 weeks to finish. Her workforce started the prep work in early February.
The multistep course of for every flower is especially time-consuming when foil is used as the bottom materials.
“These designs have been handed down among the many generations,” Casas proudly says, describing the intricate steps for every flower, resembling creating the centerpiece, wrapping it with wire, and trimming sheets of fabric to precise measurements to make sure a uniform search for the flowers.
Though the method to create the “hundreds upon hundreds” of flowers takes effort and time, Casas loves each minute of it and hopes the household custom will reside on.
“I’d love this custom to proceed; so long as we’re right here, I wish to hold this family-centered, with kinfolk who’re simply as passionate at holding this Fiesta historical past alive for years to return,” she says.
