Sister Spokesman's Sold-Out Spring Event Brings Women Together for Planting, Music and Community
Sister Spokesman's sold-out spring event on April 4 at Bachman's Floral in Minneapolis featured a performance by singer Jamela Pettiford, a hands-on planting session led by Banner Hill Design owner Lea Nordos and a warm community gathering rooted in resilience and renewal.
Women filled Sister Spokesman’s sold-out April event Saturday, April 4, for “The Earth Bounces Back, and So Do I.” The event featured raffles, food and a hands-on planting activity at Bachman’s floral shop in Minneapolis to kick off spring.
After a warm welcome from Tracey Williams-Dillard, CEO and publisher of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, singer Jamela Pettiford, a recent MSR “On the Radar” feature, performed.
Before singing, Pettiford shared a personal story about a plant that has followed her family for generations. Growing up, her family kept a plant on a windowsill, grown from a cutting her grandmother had gifted her father. When her parents moved, her father passed it on to her. It is now three large plants ready to be divided into six pots, a living metaphor, she said, for resilience and growth.
“The resilience is in the room and even if sometimes the people around you forget to water you, they overlook you, are unkind to you, you can still grow when you get put into the right hands,” Pettiford said. “You will multiply beyond the pot’s capability to hold.”
Kemi Okoya, attending a Sister Spokesman event for the first time, said the afternoon was refreshing.
“I liked the idea that they’re bringing women together as a community,” she said.
Attendees moved to the greenhouse for an hourlong session led by Lea Nordos, owner of Banner Hill Design. Nordos introduced participants to cold-hardy plants suited to Minnesota’s unpredictable April weather, including snapdragons, primroses, bulbs and pansies that can tolerate temperatures as low as 20 degrees. Though, she cautioned they must be acclimated gradually. She also offered tips on fertilizer, supporting pollinators and deterring deer and rabbits.
Rain tapped the greenhouse roof as attendees lined up to choose their pots, fill them with soil and plant starter pansies. Women left with colorful new additions for their homes, yards and gardens.
Okoya said the practical information Nordos shared will go to good use.
“I think everybody can get something from it that is useful to them to do their planting at home,” she said.
Though she came for her love of flowers, Okoya said she plans to return for future events.
“I’m going to start following,” she said. “It’s good to see the Black community come together, so I definitely will be interested in anything else that Sister Spokesman and MSR do.”
Damenica Ellis welcomes reader responses at dellis@spokesman-recorder.com.
