County Sponsors Local Vendors at Philadelphia Flower Show
Heliconia Psittacorum (file photo)
By Sonia Isotov
The County of Maui announced today a unique opportunity for Maui County flower vendors to showcase their products at that Philadelphia International Flower Show, the largest fresh flower and products show in North America.
With approximately more than 300,000 people attending this nine day event, the Maui County Office of Economic Development (OED) has purchased 10 booths at the show, held from March 4 to 11, 2012, and is in the process of looking for local vendors who want to participate. The theme of the flower show this year is “Hawai`i, Islands of Aloha.”
“This is a tremendous opportunity for businesses to market the many fine local products and services we have here in Maui County,” said Mayor Alan Arakawa. “I look forward to seeing a list of applicants composed of the best of the best that we have to offer.”
Maui County is now trying to locate just the right mix of local vendors who want to participate in this opportunity and sell their products at this show. Products that are eligible are Maui County-made food products, cultural crafts, Hawaiian music CDs, fresh flowers or packaged nursery products, value-added soaps & lotions, fresh fruit, packaged coffee, etc. The county will pick a diverse group of vendors that have a large quantity of product that will be ready to ship to Philadelphia in March. The requirements are that 51% of the value of the product must have been derived within Maui County, and the company must have a website with an active shopping cart.
Teena Rasmussen, Coordinator, Office of Economic Development, County of Maui. Photo courtesy Arakawa transition team.
“The purpose of promoting our companies to these new mainland buyers is to entice them to re-order from our companies’ shopping carts in the future,” said Teena Rasmussen, OED Coordinator. “Without the shopping cart requirement, there would be no mechanism to gain future business from this endeavor.”
In addition to the booth space, the Office of Economic Development will be offering each company who qualifies for an assistance package to help defray costs.
A special informational meeting is scheduled on Sept. 7, 2010 at 8 a.m. in the Mayor’s Lounge on the 9th floor of the County building. Interested companies are urged to attend this meeting as the county vendor list of participants must be completed by October 1st.
For further information or for interested companies from Lanai and Molokai, you can call the Maui County Office of Economic Development at 270-7710.
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