It’s 6 a.m. on a rainy Tuesday in early May. Despite the early hour, the parking lot of a nondescript warehouse in south Burnaby is packed with cars and delivery trucks.
What’s sold in the building can’t be seen yet, but as soon as you step inside you can smell it.
“Today our buyers are looking for flowers to sell for Mother’s Day,” explains Bob Pringle, CEO of the United Flower Growers Co-operative Association (UFGCA)farmers’ co-op.
“Growers bring their products in through the night, and we receive [product] up until 5:30 in the morning.”
This is where Fraser Valley and Vancouver Island flower growers come to sell to florists, grocers and garden store owners. The auction takes place from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. three days a week, and this – the week before Mother’s Day – is the market’s busiest time of the year.
Read the rest of the story by clicking here.
