Holiday Flowers The Art Floral’s commitment to the community
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s temperatures and COVID numbers keep falling, families across the valley look forward to enjoying every minute of the 2021 holiday season. But sometimes hardship and tragedy can make the holidays a desperate time. In 1984, after tragedy struck for Vasi Sergakis, the minutes couldn’t move fast enough. Earlier that year, her husband Mike passed away, making her sole owner of The Art Floral. Despite being a part of the family business, Vasi focused on running the family while Mike ran the
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business he started in 1951. In July 1984, as the calendar started its downhill slide to December, Vasi Sergakis started the uphill climb as a single parent and the sole breadwinner. At the time, she was still speaking broken English. Then the Great October snowstorm came, covering the city with a record amount of snow. Financially, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas wouldn’t make it. “The end of summer and beginning of fall are a slower time in the flower business and everyone ramps up for
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ART FLORAL
By John Michael Pantlik
