By BOB SMITH
Kitsap News Group
PORT ORCHARD — Valentine’s Day is a holiday bathed in red: red roses, red ribbons wrapped around boxes of assorted chocolates, cheesy oversized red faux-velvet Hallmark cards — and sometimes red faces.
Red as in the color of a guy’s cheeks after running to the florist shop or local confectionary just before closing time to buy a romantic gift for a special someone. Or red-faced for forgetting about the holiday altogether. Which would seem to be a hard thing to do with even grocery stores placing heart-shaped merchandise in prime view of customers.
But those unfortunate few who didn’t get the hint are vastly outnumbered by romantics who select a special gift well ahead of time.
In Port Orchard, some local merchants say they’ve been preparing for Valentine’s Day for weeks now, taking floral orders over the phone or online and making special chocolates to woo your favorite person.
At Gazebo Florist, owner Lavonne Lynam said Valentine’s Day is one of the top holiday weeks for her shop at 730 Bay St. in Port Orchard, topped in sales only by Mother’s Day. But Feb. 14 is the busiest single day of the year. All told, the shop delivers anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 stemmed roses that make up 200 to 250 arrangement orders that come to the business.
The business’s back room includes a couple of tables cluttered with a collection of ribbons, string, cutting knives and scissors, and lots of paperwork. But when it’s time to arrange a vivid selection of roses, the store’s team of employees is a model of efficiency. Rose stems are trimmed, palm leaves are carefully arranged and buds are arranged “just-so.”
In order to deliver those arrangements of roses by the evening, Lynam (who said she lived on “Flower Avenue” in town for many years) said she depends on her reliable delivery man to handle most of the orders. But when Lynam’s in a pinch, she uses her “mom” and “grandmother” card and enlists family members for delivery duty around town.
The longtime owner of the business — she bought Gazebo Florist in 1983, but has worked there since 1970 — said not much has changed about requests made for Valentine’s Day and the service she and 24-year assistant Nicole Schmittler provide.
“Nothing really has changed,” Lynam said of the holiday.
“We do get reservations up to a month ahead of time from those who want their arrangements delivered on time. And we have longtime customers who come into the shop. But most of the orders we receive these days are done on the computer,” she said, referring to their website.
“It saves a lot of time,” she noted. But after pondering a bit, Lynam said another big change — to their detriment — has been the advent of grocery store flower shops. “The groceries take a lot from us,” she said of the inexpensive wrapped bouquets highlighted near their front entrance.
“But they don’t offer delivery,” she said, which is one aspect that makes Valentine’s Day a special event for the recipient of a dozen red roses delivered to the door.
The ages of those purchasing the arrangements haven’t changed much over the years. Lynam said it encompasses people ages 30 to 80. And, yes, red roses are the most popular selection, with pink close behind.
And what about those stragglers knocking on their door minutes before closing time? They still make an appearance every year, Lynam said. “They’ll come until the end and even will take the last of the roses we have left over — even the drooped flowers — and take them home.”
For those looking for treats that can be eaten, not admired from a distance, Valentine’s Day is often made sweeter by an assortment of chocolates. At Carter’s Chocolates in the Port Orchard Public Market, the holiday of romance means a busy week or so for owner Matt Carter.
“We do really well the week before Valentine’s,” Carter said. “It’s a busy time for us. We’re especially busy the day of and the day before.”
Down the road from Carter’s Chocolates is Lois Sietman’s Nostalgia House Bakery, which she said is gearing up for Valentine’s Day, only less feverishly. Sietman, who has owned the bakery for almost four years, said they will have an array of “little desserts” that she said folks like to buy to round out their holiday stash of gift items.
“While we’re not doing anything specific for Valentine’s Day, we will have things like little heart cakes, chocolate-dipped strawberries and cake bon bons that have been dipped in chocolate.
While baked items might take on a supporting role on this holiday, Sietman said anything she makes that includes chocolate is in demand.
And like Carter, chocolate is the key to one’s heart, not just on Valentine’s Day.
“Anything chocolate — chocolate heart-shaped cakes are popular — sells quickly for Valentine’s Day,” Sietman said. “You really can’t go wrong.”
Chocolates of all shapes and color will be in many Valentine’s Day gift bags on Feb. 14. Photo credit: Bob Smith | Kitsap Daily News
Hundreds of arrangements, mainly red roses, will leave Lavonne Lynam’s Gazebo Florist shop on Feb. 14 for Valentine’s Day. Assistant Nicole Schmittler is at the right of Lynam. Photo credit: Bob Smith | Kitsap Daily News
Lois Sietman of Nostalgia House Bakery has made an extra supply of chocolate cupcakes and chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentine’s Day. Photo credit: Bob Smith | Kitsap Daily News
