Build a bouquet with the Spring Shop Hop

Spring is here and stores in uptown Creston want to share the cheer Saturday with the Spring Shop Hop.

Hosted by Three Little Birds Marketplace and The Latest Edition Bookstore, shoppers can spend the day creating a vibrant bouquet, gathering a different flower from each participating business. Shoppers will start their day at Greens N’ Things, opening at 9 a.m., to pick up a map and a bag for their flowers, which includes OASIS Floral Foam to keep the blossoms fresh.

From there, shoppers are free to roam around the uptown district, with 14 other locations to visit. Participating locations include Coen’s Furniture, Three Little Birds Marketplace, Woodvisions by KEG, The Latest Edition Bookstore, Crystallized Visions, Feel Better Training, Hot Air Brewing, Hazel Marie’s, The Wishing Well, Adam’s Street Espresso, Family Shoe, Big Acai, The Emporium and Gibson Memorial Library.

Along with the flowers, a number of other events and activities will be available uptown. Creston Chamber of Commerce will host the final Legislative Coffee of the 2025 session at 8 a.m. in the Restored Depot. From 10:30 a.m. to noon, the library will host a Very Hungry Caterpillar Party. Creston Arts will lead a needle felted wool eggs class from 1 to 4 p.m.

Some of the participating shops will have extras as well. Three Little Birds Marketplace will feature a charm bar from Wildflower Clay Designs, while The Latest Edition Bookstore will host a giveaway.

Bookstore owner Elizabeth Fioretto said the spring event was prompted after scheduling conflicts stopped a second year of Galentine’s Day.

“We did that last year, but the timing just wasn’t right,” Fioretto said. “[Jill Hoakison] reached out to Greens N’ Things to see and we went from there. The whole point was to make it something that’s accessible, anyone can participate. There’s no entry fee, there’s no extra hoopla for the businesses. They just buy their flowers and that’s it.”

Hoakison owns Three Little Birds Marketplace and said she’s always looking for different ways to bring more of the community to the uptown area.

“It’s always just enticing to find events that help create an experience and also help encourage patrons or shoppers to discover new stores uptown,” Hoakison said. “This is just an easy take on either a shopping bingo card or even just sometimes they do a shopping passport. This will hopefully encourage individuals to try other places or discover new retailers uptown that they may not necessarily travel to.”

While Fioretto and Hoakison are excited to see the community out and about on Saturday, they request that those planning to come mark “going” on the Facebook event so stores have enough flowers for everyone. At time of print, there are 16 registered as going to the event, while 189 registered as interested.

“If they could tell us, ‘hey, I’m coming and I’m bringing a friend,’ that would be awesome so that we know we have enough flowers ordered so everyone can go home with them,” Fioretto said.