Christine Franco, owner of Maravilla Floral Designs, a local sustainable floral business, will host a Mother’s Day Flower Bar pop-up event with 25% of proceeds going to help victims of the Altadena Fire. The three-day event will take place at Happy Humble Hub, located at 117 E Main St Unit A & B, Alhambra, CA 91801, offering both pre-made arrangements and custom bouquet options.
“I just want to give back to the community while for Mother’s Day,” said Franco. “I think the best way, I’m a Floris that raises money for charity, and so that’s kind of been my branding around that is collaborating with other businesses and collaborating with nonprofits and schools, and yeah, that’s how we help get back through flowers.”
The Mother’s Day Flower Bar will operate Friday from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Customers can purchase pre-made arrangements or create their own bouquets from a selection of loose flowers at the flower bar.
Franco’s business stands out for its commitment to sustainability and local sourcing. “I primarily support wholesalers that buy from local California flower farms,” Franco explained. “So a whole part of my business is I’m all about being sustainable within my forest seat practice.”
Unlike many florists, Franco exclusively uses locally grown flowers and avoids imported blooms. “I don’t buy anything imported anymore in that includes roses,” she said. “So I don’t sell too many roses as a result of it because roses are just kind of hard to find locally. But we get a lot of wild flowers.” This commitment to local sourcing means her designs are based on what she calls “signal availability,” likely referring to seasonal availability.
Franco also emphasized her environmentally friendly approach to floral design. “We use all foam free mechanics. We don’t use any kind of microplastic, floral foam in our design,” she added.
As a small business without a brick-and-mortar location, Franco relies on pop-ups and collaborations with other businesses. “I do pop this everywhere. I don’t have my brick and mortar at this time, so I’m pretty reliant on collaborating with other Es to do sell flowers or anyone that wants to host a flower bar,” she explained. She connected with Happy Humble Hub through Hong, as both are members of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce.
The flyer for the event encourages customers to “Buy a bouquet for Mom from us and we will donate 25% of the proceeds to the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce Foundation for the Altadena Fire Relief.”
For more information about the event or Franco’s floral business, contact her at 626-586-0459.
