Yellowknifers say 'I love you mom' with flowers--and procrastination
Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (May 16/01) - Say what you will about Norman Bates. The boy did love his mom.
It's doubtful that anyone in Yellowknife went to the rather extreme lengths that Norman did to please their moms on Mother's Day.
Still, kids aged seven to 70 across the city had their chance last Sunday to thank their mothers for being the best moms ever.
Rather than propping mom up in her bedroom and dressing up in her clothes, most Yellowknifers were content to say it with flowers.
Carrie Fors, manager of Growers' Direct in the Centre Square Mall, says that Mother's Day is one of those moments in the florist's calendar where things can get a bit hairy.
"On Saturday, we pushed through about 175 customers," a slightly frazzled-looking Fors said.
The run on flowers was so intense that Fors and her co-workers had to stop taking orders Saturday afternoon. The situation was the same at other stores across Canada.
"We got faxes from Grande Prairie, Vancouver and the surrounding area" warning that there were no more flowers at the shop, so don't bother taking orders for the area.
Fors said that Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are the two busiest times of the year for florists.
"It's a toss up," she said, adding the difference is that on Valentine's Day, the run on flowers actually starts on Feb. 14. The Mother's Day run starts about four days early.
Still, Yellowknifers have one thing that sets them apart from the rest of the herd -- procrastination.
Fors was still doing a brisk trade in bouquets Monday morning. In anticipation of the late bloomers, she had left the little Mother's Day cards out on the store counter.
