Fire Leaves Florist Without Electricity Leading Up To Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is usually the busiest time of the year for florists.

So imagine the added stress for one Tulsa florist who had a fire at their business that left them without electricity.

Toni Garner has been arranging and selling flowers at her shop, Toni's Flowers and Gifts, near 36th and Harvard for 41 years, and there's no busier time for Toni and her crew than Valentine's Day.

"We call it our biggest week with a knock in the head because you're busy every day," she said.

Toni says she'll sell about 600 arrangements in the days leading up to Valentine's Day, and while the work is getting done, it's a little trickier this year.

Toni and her crew are having to arrange the flowers in the dark after a fire took out the electrical panels, so they have no electricity, phones, or internet.

"It's our busiest holiday, and so I thought, well, okay, we can do this. We're strong people, we can do it, so that's what we're doing," she said.

They're having to bundle up because there's no heat, but Toni says while it's worse for the people, it's better for the flowers.

"So our flowers are staying very fresh, so it's very cold in here; I think it's probably about 38 degrees, 40 degrees. At least it's not in the summer, so that's a good positive thing," she said.

Focusing on the positive is what's getting Toni through this time. She's doing whatever she can to make sure Valentine's Day is still special and full of love for all of her customers.

"I could either be positive, or be negative, or down in the dumps, and I just can't do that, even though I would like to. I don't want to be that way," she said.

She's hoping to get the electricity back tomorrow or Wednesday and is remaining open with plenty of arrangements ready to be sold.