From Iowa to the Rose Bowl with love

• Grinnell’s Flowers on Fourth owner invited to decorate Rose Bowl Parade floats; joined by two other area florists on week-long experience

By J.O. PARKER
joparker@dmreg.com

Jody Fairchild-VanDeKrol spent the week between Christmas and New Years buried in roses, chicken wire and hog rings.

“My hands were like hamburger, all swollen,” said Fairchild-VanDeKrol as she smiled and chuckled.

“It was my first experience with hog rings,” she continued with another chuckle. “I want to buy one of those hog ringers.”

Fairchild-VanDeKrol, owner of Flowers on Fourth in Grinnell, just returned from Los Angeles in the early morning hours of Jan. 4, after spending nearly a week helping decorate a Rose Bowl parade float.

Joining her in Los Angeles was Cynthia Sherman of Grinnell and Laurel Hollopeter of Victor, both veteran Rose Bowl parade float builders. This was Fairchild-VanDeKrol’s first trip to the Rose Bowl.

All three floral designers worked for the Fiesta Float Company, the premier float builder and winner of eight awards, including the Dole Float, which won the Sweepstakes Award, in this year’s parade.

Fairchild-VanDeKrol worked with Sherman on the Kaiser Permanente (healthcare organization) float entitled “Every Body Walk,” winner of the Lathrop K. Leishman Trophy for the most beautiful non-commercial float. The duo also assisted with part of the Kit Cat Float, which had dancers and skateboarders.

Hollopeter worked on the Dole Foods “Preserving Paradise” float, winner of the Sweepstakes Trophy for the most beautiful float in the parade, an award given to Dole for the second year in a row.

It was Sherman who campaigned to the Fiesta Float Company on behalf of Fairchild-VanDeKrol to be invited as a volunteer for the 2012 parade.

Surprise trip

Fairchild-VanDeKrol didn’t find out until late November that she had been invited to join Sherman and Hollopeter in California.

“I didn’t even know,” she said. “All my employees showed up at the shop and I thought it was a little odd, but didn’t think much about it. Then my sister, Charity, came in carrying two containers of cupcakes from Yumi’s Bakery followed by Cynthia and Laurel.”

“They all said, here, open these,” recalled Fairchild-VanDeKrol.

She opened the first cupcake container and it said “congratulations” on one of the cupcakes. She then opened the second container and it said, “Rose Bowl Parade 2012,” on one of the cupcakes.

Surprised, Fairchild-VanDeKrol said she was shocked!

“Of course, I was bawling at that point,” she said. “I had written it off for this year as I didn’t think I could have scheduled it. My family knew about it because they all chipped in to pay for my plane ticket and other expenses.”

“We had been planning this for quite sometime,” added Hollopeter. “She didn’t even know what to say the day we showed up to tell her.”

The trio flew to California on Dec. 27, with work on their part of the floats getting underway on Dec. 28 and continuing through New Year’s Eve until all 11 floats were finished.

Fairchild-VanDeKrol said she and Sherman concentrated mostly on building orbs (round balls) made with 400 roses each for the Kaiser Permanente float. To keep the roses fresh they are placed in a water source or water tube.

“This company (Fiesta Float) is extremely detail oriented and great care is taken with all the fresh flowers,” said Sherman.

Luckily for Fairchild-VanDeKrol, she had some experience in making pomander bouquets (balls) for weddings.

“I made so many orbs (at the Rose Bowl) that I could make one in my sleep, “ she said with a chuckle.

Fairchild-VanDeKrol and Sherman were two of only four floral designers working on the float. And while they were busy at work, reporters, cameramen and groups of tourists strolled through the building, stopping for photos and asking questions.

“People would say, ‘Keep working, we want a picture of you working,’” recalled Fairchild-VanDeKrol.

Floral designers invited to the Rose Bowl Parade work as volunteers in the early years and if invited back, work their way up the ladder to having their motel furnished and being paid on contract.

Kaiser Permanente float

The Kaiser Permanente float included a moving caterpillar and measured 28-foot high, 18-foot wide and 55-foot in length.

According to the Fiesta Float Company Web site, the brightly decorated caterpillar was created with green Kermit button mums, yellow strawflower petals, hot pink carnations, and purple dendrobium orchid florets. He wore a hat, shoes and gloves of white sweet rice and carried a walking stick fashioned from malaleuca bark. Colorful butterflies of orange marigold petals, yellow strawflower petals, blue sinuata statice, and onion seed fluttered over sculptured flowers of white coconut chips, yellow strawflower and peach lentil seeds. Yellow and orange roses created the centers of the flowers. Hundreds of red carnations, along with black chive seed, created the ladybugs. More than 40,000 hot pink Topaz roses created gardens lined with bouquets garlands of green Jade roses, green apples and limes, bells of Ireland and hypericum.

“It was really a good experience,” said Fairchild-VanDeKrol. “And it was really warm, 80 degrees and it was nice.”

The Dole Float

The Dole float measured 30-foot high, 18-foot wide and 55-foot in length with a Thailand-based theme complete with elephants, a Bengal tiger, leopards, hornbill birds, butterflies and a waterfall.

According to the Fiesta Float Company Web site, the float included brilliant tropical jungle floors are created using more than 50,000 brilliant orange-red Mercedes roses with exotic lush gardens of heliconia, protea, ginger and more than 500 colorful anthuriums completing this magnificent floral presentation. Tropical fruits, include bananas, pineapples, mangoes, papayas, peaches, strawberries and blueberries that are grown and provided by Dole, are featured throughout these floral designs.

Hollopeter, who is the floral manager at the Iowa City First Avenue Hy-Vee since 1997, worked on the hedges and the cliff for the waterfall. This was his fourth time building floats for the Rose Bowl Parade, something that he says is quite an experience and privilege.

“You don’t think of someone from small-town Iowa getting the opportunity to work on something that is seen nationwide,” Hollopeter said.

This was Sherman’s third year working on parade floats. She is the former owner of Flowers on Fourth in Grinnell where she spent 20 years before selling it to Fairchild-VanDeKrol in 2008. She is past president of the Iowa Florist’s Association (IFA) and still currently serves on the board of directors. Sherman, who is an Iowa Master Florist, owns a floral consulting firm and works on special projects.

Fairchild-VanDeKrol is an Iowa Master Florist and president of the Iowa Florist Association, where she earned the designer of the year award and is the current premier cup award holder. She was invited to decorate for the governor’s inaugural ball in 2011, and decorated Terrace Hill, home of the governor, for Christmas.

After the last roses were placed and judging completed, all three designers were able to enjoy the parade from camera view in VIP seating and do some sightseeing. Fairchild-VanDeKrol said the parade route was lined with bleachers, which are in people’s front yards.

“It is so exciting being at the parade and realizing that you had a significant part in bringing that float to completion,” noted Sherman. “Working with other designers from across the country and networking with other talented florists is such a great education and definitely worth all the hard work that goes into the floats.”

“It was a lot of work,” added Fairchild-VanDeKrol of the experience. “It was really enlightening. Now I know I can accomplish anything.”

Tagged as: Poweshiek County Iowa Rose Bowl Parade Laurel Hollopeter Victor Grinnell Cynthia Sherman Jody Fairchild-VanDeKrol