Emily Yewchuk poses with daughter Georgia next to the *Opti In Bloom* display. (Jeannie Lin / CHLY 101.7 FM)

A retired sailboat was given a new purpose at Comox Marina Park last week, transformed into a colourful display of locally grown flowers for Canadian Flowers Week.

The installation, called Opti in Bloom, was created by Emily Yewchuk, owner of Wildflower Mercantile, a flower shop in Comox.

The installation is located near the boat launch in Comox Marina Park. (Jeannie Lin / CHLY 101.7 FM)

“It's an ode to Canadian-grown flowers and all of the beauty and abundance that we can grow right here in the Comox Valley. Everything here is grown in the Comox Valley,” said Yewchuk.

The installation uses a retired Optimist boat, which are small sailboats commonly used to teach children how to sail.

“The director of the Comox Bay Sailing Club, which my kids are both in, posted that this Opti boat needed to be rehomed. It was no longer seaworthy, and did anyone have any ideas for it, like a planter was the idea that he threw out there. And I looked up, because I remembered Canadian Flowers Week is usually in August, and I looked up when it was, and it happened to be like six days after this message he sent,” said Yewchuk.

She approached the Town of Comox immediately about the idea, and the town suggested the location to be in Comox Marina Park.

“I am gonna estimate I had 12 buckets of flowers, plus I'd say a full like, four, five more buckets of hydrangeas and boxwood for the sail. We have hydrangeas, dahlias, zinnias. We have snap, sugar peas. We have sweet peas. We have gladiolas. We have cosmos. There's a lot of variety. But yeah, so there's 12 buckets. So maybe if you average about 12, I mean, over 200 stems probably,” said Yewchuk.

Instead of using floral foams which can introduce microplastics into waterways, Yewchuk used chicken wires to hold the flowers in place. Many of the flowers were grown by Yewchuk herself, and others came from other florists.

“I am a partner with Project Inclusion. They're a group of adults and young adults with diverse abilities with the Child Development Association, and they love gardening. And so this year we partnered together, and so they grew all of the beautiful zinnias we see in here, all of the cosmos we see in here, were all grown by them,” said Yewchuk.

Yewchuk was present all seven days last week at the installation to talk to visitors and passerbys.

“It was so lovely to have all of the engagement. And then people are sending me pictures with their kiddos with the boat and with their dogs with the boat. Like, it's been so joyful. I think that's another reason why I did this, was just to kind of create this little moment of joy and again, just to be creative for the sake of creative[sic],” said Yewchuk.

Canadian Flowers Week, founded in Toronto in 2018, is an annual week-long campaign to celebrate local seasonal flowers and florists. It promotes the slow-flower movement, which encourages consumers to buy locally grown flowers, instead of ones that are mass-produced or imported. Yewchuk also said that flowers are important for beautifying any community.

“And there's so much science backed research around flowers and your mental health and having flowers in your home and having flowers in your space. And so I do think it is a bit of a mental health boost, seeing something so incredibly colorful and gorgeous just on your walk. And you didn't know it was here and you just discovered it. It's such a little moment of joy,” said Yewchuk.

After the installation came down Sunday, Yewchuk took the sailboat home with her. But Opti in Bloom may not be the boat’s final appearance at the Marina Park. She hopes to repurpose it again for a fall or winter-themed installation, giving the Opti another chance to bloom.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.

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