On Friday May 1, 2020, May Day in Annapolis, local floral and event designer and Annapolis tour guide Melissa Huston will be creating a tribute called “A Barrel of Blooms” dedicated to the floral, event, hospitality and tourism industries which have been nearly decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Beginning at sunrise, Huston will set up a full-size whiskey barrel outside the Harvest Wood Grill + Tap restaurant at 26 Market Place, where she will fill the barrel until its bursting with fresh cut flowers. Local photographer Clare Conger Barone, of the Annapolis Photography Studio, will video the process from start to finish.
Harvest Wood Grill + Tap is one of the stops on her Twisted History Tavern Tour, and like most restaurants, their staff has been out of work since mid-March.
Huston says “This is my love letter to Annapolis and the special moments that bring us together. Social distancing and quarantine have killed the businesses that rely on gatherings. Bartenders, servers, florists, and event specialists have had the proverbial pause button pressed our livelihoods. From make-up artists to rental companies, we are struggling with an uncertain future”
The wedding industry generates over 60 billion dollars in the United States. The U.S. floral industry consists of more than 60,000 small businesses, such as growers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors and importers and accounts for over 35 billion in yearly revenue. Since the pandemic, many shops have closed their doors and the global floral supply chain has been severely disrupted.
Since 1956, the Garden Club of Olde Annapolis Towne has hosted the May day basket tradition. Called the most beautiful day in Annapolis, residents and business adorn their front doors with baskets of fresh flowers and trailing ribbons.
Historically, May Day celebrations reach back a millennium. Falling between the spring Equinox and summer solstice, it has always been a celebration of spring and new life. The Celts called it Beltane and celebrated with bonfires and decorated with bright yellow flowers, and the Romans turned it into a five-day festival called Floralia, dedicated to Flora, the goddess of flowers.
