Roses are red
Ice storms are white
How about we celebrate
Some other night?
Valentine’s Day is today. Or is it?
Following a frozen week of power outages and abandoned highways, some residents weary from the storm and merchants eager to salvage a key revenue day are considering a Valentine’s delay.
Danny Wilson, owner of The Savage Garden floral design company, typically focuses on events and weddings, but had planned to sell bouquets out of a kiosk at the Phipps Plaza Nordstrom this week. Because of the weather, and temporary mall closures,“that never came to fruition,” he lamented.
Instead, Wilson will be at the kiosk today through Saturday selling artistic bouquets (“everything but red roses”) priced from $65 to $200, with a 25 percent discount offered on Saturday.
Anew Facebook page called “Valentine’s Day Delay” encourages Atlantans to extend floral purchases into next week, to support local florists whose businesses might have suffered due to delayed shipments or power outages.
“Support Atlanta area florists iced out by the winter storm,” is the page’s call to action. “Help make up for lost business by ordering the week of February 17.”
Even Atlanta-area Whole Foods stores are extending a special on roses (two dozen for $19.99) through Sunday.
Kevin Rathbun Steak and KR SteakBar will be ready through Sunday to accommodate Valentine diners.
“With the driving conditions and people who have had problems getting to their final destinations, we thought that opening Sunday for an extra day of romance would be in order,” said co-owner Cliff Bramble.
Baraonda Ristorante & Bar and Publik Draft House, both in Atlanta, also are extending their Valentine’s menus through the weekend.
“We want to make sure the winter storm doesn’t ruin Atlantans’ Valentine’s Day plans,” co-owner Eddie Johnson said. “We hope we can make the holiday special, no matter which day you’re celebrating.”
Meg Reggie and husband Rick Butgereit of Sandy Springs are planning a romantic night in — on Saturday — with the help of Garnish & Gather, a local company that delivers the ingredients home cooks need to quickly assembly a gourmet meal.
“Since we’ve been homebound, and hadn’t done our Valentine gift shopping ahead of time, we decided to celebrate on Saturday evening at home,” Reggie said. They’ve ordered a meal featuring a goat cheese gratin appetizer, quinoa, beet and carrot salad with chocolate molten cake for dessert, and are delighted they won’t have to drive anywhere.
And guys looking for dispensation have a friend in the Oconee County sheriff.
“Valentine’s Day has been CANCELLED,” the humorous Sheriff Scott Berry posted on the department’s Facebook page. “Men are exempt from having to buy lottery scratchers and Hershey bars until Feb. 18, due to ice, snow, freezing rain.”
Candy bars and lotto tickets … just what she wanted.
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