Next year, Warner’s Nursery celebrates a pretty big milestone.
Our company will have been in business for half a century. Started by my grandmother, Dottie, Warner’s began in 1970 in Page. By the end of the decade, her sons expanded the businesses into a landscaping and maintenance division serving Northern Arizona, and in 1990, our family made the big leap and moved to Flagstaff.
Now, I am part of the third generation running our family’s businesses. With my husband and sister (and sometimes my oldest son, who joins us during the summers when he’s not in school), we are continuing the work my grandmother started.
During this half-century, it has always been important to my family to not only provide excellent products and services, but to also be an asset to our community. Not just in terms of being part of the local economy and creating jobs, but also promoting other local businesses, supporting our non-profits and creating events that bring people together.
That’s why every year, we host a blood drive during the summer (when demand for blood is at the highest, while – ironically – donations are scarce). Through our Warner’s Giving Tree, we donate time, products or funds to dozens of organizations.
We also wanted to be able to reach out to community members who don’t get a chance to visit the nursery to offer advice on gardening, which is why we started our Warner’s on Wheels events last year, bringing our trailer to events like the monthly Flea Market at City Hall and the First Friday Artwalk.
It’s also why we host a bunch of events throughout the year – from free seminars to visits from Santa and holiday story time for kids to our annual Easter Egg Hunt.
We’re very excited that our nursery has been selected to be the venue for a brand new event that will not only provide folks a fun and tasty day at Warner’s Nursery, it will help promote local businesses.
It’s called the FLAVOR Food and Wine Festival and it will be held from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14.
FLAVOR is inspired by some other Arizona festivals promoting local business, such as Devour in Phoenix and Savor in Tucson. All are designed to raise awareness about Arizona-based vintners, restauranteurs and retail vendors in their regions. It’s the first-ever food and wine festival in Northern Arizona.
The event is being put on by two non-profits: Local First Arizona, which promotes and advocates for strong local businesses, and Over the Rainbow Butterfly Garden, a Flagstaff-based group that’s dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults with developmental disabilities.
So far, the lineup of food, wine and other tantalizing treats includes: Page Springs Cellars, Del Rio Springs Vineyards, Drinking Horn Meadery, Su Vino Vineyards, the Shift Kitchen, Sweet Shoppe Candy Store, Los Muertos Salsa, Merkin Pizza Wagon and Canyon Jacks Food Truck.
We are very excited to be part of this, not only because it will help feature area businesses but because as a local, family-owned business, we are very supportive of Local First Arizona’s vision.
The group has been promoting the importance of buying local since it was founded in 2003, advocating that when you support local businesses you are helping to foster economic vitality for your community.
For example, when you support locally owned businesses, the money you spend tends to stay in the community. Studies show that for every $100 spent at a local business, about $43 remains in the area’s economy, as opposed to $13 for non-locally owned businesses.
And as local business owners who are very active in the community, we can tell you that is true – a big chunk of our revenues goes right back into the greater Flagstaff area, by creating jobs, supporting local groups and doing our part to keep Northern Arizona an amazing place to live, work and do business.
We hope to see you at FLAVOR fest later this month. You can learn more about the event and buy tickets on our website warnersnursery.com under the events tab.
Happy Gardening! FBN
By Misti Warner-Andersen
Misti Warner-Andersen is the manager of
Warner’s Nursery & Landscape Co., located at 1101 E. Butler Ave. in Flagstaff. To contact Warner’s Nursery, call 928-774-1983.
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