At age 70, Rose Garcia’s decision to retire from her flower-making career is about letting others discover the joy she’s found in the uniquely San Antonio job.
Rose Garcia, the flower maker behind the Battle of Flowers Parade, creates a pink flower for a float at an East Side workshop.This year’s Battle of Flowers Parade marks a historic beginning — and an end.will finally, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, march through downtown San Antonio once again.In that time, she and her family members have handmade an estimated 500,000 flowers that a volunteer crew uses to adorn the colorful floats.
“We don’t push,” she said. “Gradually, they get the courage and they want to learn. They see everybody around them doing it and they say, ‘Let me try.’” They share stories and also their heartaches. This year, that meant recalling the family members they had lost to COVID-19 in recent months. In October, Garcia’s brother died from the virus along with a cousin, Helen Reyes. “We lost too many,” Garcia said.
Despite the pain of loss and illness, Garcia said they all have missed Fiesta after the event was canceled in 2020 and the parades suspended in 2021 due to the pandemic. “She really is someone we all admire and she has an incredible work ethic and a talent that we respect and love and care about,” Branch said.