From the President
 

Happy Fall Everyone!

There is a scent of mischief in the air with glimpses of Halloween decorations being seen in the yards and on the porches where little ghosts and goblins will soon be trick-or-treating. 

Seeing all of that has me conjuring up all kinds of ideas for next year's convention.  I can hardly wait for August to get here thinking of all the fun we are going to have.

Everyone should be gearing up for the holidays decorating their shops and the never ending job of cleaning to get ready for your annual Christmas open house to kick off the holiday season.  I am keeping a positive attitude that we will sell, sell, sell despite all the gloom and doom over the economy.  We'll keep our chins up, give it our best, be smart and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

The AFA board members and I have launched a membership drive at some of the Fall and Christmas open houses around the state.  We have planted seeds about the importance of becoming a member of this great organization.  Each of us who attended the open houses introduced ourselves to the crowd and talked about our involvement in the association and the role we play during our great convention.   We shared what being a member of AFA has meant to us on both a professional and personal level.

Also, we shared what it meant to us and our business to take the Arkansas Master Florists classes and the knowledge we gained through the program.  I encourage everyone to take advantage of this great opportunity. 

And last but not least we told everyone about the "Bokay Bash" golf tournament and sold tickets for the "Win A Van" drawing.  Everyone had a great time sharing the experiences with potential members.

I want to give special thanks to Jack Gaston of Southern Wholesale in Little Rock, Jim Gaston of River Valley Wholesale in Fort Smith, Jack Norris of Betty's Wholesale in Kensett and Jan Diederich at the Arkansas Teleflora show held at Southern Wholesale in Little Rock for allowing AFA to work in conjunction with their shows to launch our membership drive.

A huge "THANK YOU" from me to all my fellow board members, past presidents and faithful members for all their help in striving to bring new memebers to this great association.

Here's to a great holiday season and remember "Nightmare on Convention Boulevard" in the works for August 2010 convention.

This "Boo's for you,

Your prez,

Kelly Efird AIFD