FLEUROTICA 2021

Speaker 0 00:00:01 Chicago's own Garfield park. Conservatory held a magical event on Thursday night. Speaker 1 00:00:06 You ever seen project one runway it's like that, but with live Speaker 0 00:00:10 That's Jennifer van Valkenburgh president of the Garfield park conservatory Alliance, and yes, you heard her, right? The alliances annual fundraiser Floradix is a fundraiser like no other, it's a fashion show where all the outfits are made out of plants. Speaker 1 00:00:27 Um, you know, a couple of flowers, you know, kinda fall off here and there, but usually as a spectator, you're kind of just so blown away by these looks that you wouldn't notice if anything was out of ward, Speaker 0 00:00:39 The event was held both in-person and virtually, and tickets started at $75. But with that fee virtual viewers, weren't just sitting on the couch, watching the show. They also got the chance to take a brief cocktail class with heritage restaurant and caviar bar and make their own drinks and theme with the conservatory. Speaker 2 00:00:56 And then with that, where it's going to take some ice, give that a good shake, right? Fit, garnishing this with a piece of fried basil. It's absolutely delicious. And there you are. Those are your cocktails for four out of 2021 Speaker 0 00:01:17 With drinks in hand virtual and in-person viewers took their seats to watch the floral fashion. Speaker 1 00:01:22 Yeah. We usually also partner with some sort of a performer. And this year we have the, um, Joffrey community dancers, the excellence robo community dancers. And so they are, uh, the opening act. So finally with everyone takes their seats, uh, the lights go dark and then boom, the Joffrey dancers kind of light up the runway. Speaker 3 00:01:53 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:01:54 They fill up the whole runway space there, these young vibrant dancers. And so they do an opening number about three to four minutes of this awesome dance, uh, performance Speaker 0 00:02:08 MC Samantha Chatman of ABC seven, made sure the crowd was pumped up. Speaker 4 00:02:13 Tell me about the energy level. This is my first time seeing Florida. And I'm like, tell me about the energy level. Is it, is it low, is immediate. She's like it's so, so can we turn up then? Cause Speaker 1 00:02:30 The co-chairs then, uh, take the podium, which is a really exciting moment for them because they've been working on this basically since last year, we're excited to have you join us from home for the Florida experience 2021. Uh, and then, um, it's a very nervous time for me because then I take the podium. I have to explain to people who may not be as familiar with the conservatory and the Alliance, right. They're here for the runway show and, and that's great. And it's an opportunity to kind of, um, share with them what else we do 365 days a year, which is, you know, celebrate nature here as a conservatory and offer a vibrant programming for all people of all ages. And then we turn it back over and that runway show starts Speaker 4 00:03:18 Erotica 20, 21 DJ. Speaker 1 00:03:30 And the first look that comes out is usually a very specific choice. Um, we turn that choice over to our event producer and she kind of gets sneak peaks of all the designs through sketches from the designers. And then she curated the show to kind of have moments of, you know, that first opening walk and then, you know, halfway through, she might add one that has moving parts to kind of liven up things. So there's one walk and the, um, we have a DJ playing all the time. So you're kind of dancing in your chair, watching these amazing creations come up and down the runway and then there's another performance. And then there's a parade with the designers. And that is sort of the crescendo of the show where the designers get to walk down with their creations and their models and show people off or so off. You know, what they've created with these magical, um, looks that they've put together. Speaker 4 00:04:32 Thank you all so much for such a magical evening. Again, Speaker 0 00:04:37 Not only was the event a way to showcase the talents of 15 local florists, but the money raised helps support one of the largest botanical conservatories in the nation, allowing Chicago-land residents and visitors to have continued access to educational programming. Speaker 1 00:04:52 I want people to think, well, you know, this place is amazing and I need to come back and spend time in the collection, um, because I've just inspired by the beauty and awesome. This of nature Speaker 0 00:05:06 For WWII pneumonia.