The tradition of a homecoming mum is uniquely Texan. But it’s a large enough tradition to support an entire industry of small family businesses, some of which have been around for generations.
On McCart Avenue in southwest Fort Worth, a rather traditional-looking building houses a fairly non-traditional business, at least to those living outside of Texas.
ACI Distributing and Manufacturing’s 25,000-square-foot warehouse is filled with boxes of plastic trinkets and shiny letters that are stacked several stories high. They also print custom ribbons in every school color imaginable. What they do is an oddity in 49 other states. “It doesn’t translate outside of Texas,” said Mike Landers, ACI’s general manager. “It’s just a Texas phenomenon.”
Homecoming might be a seasonal thing – just three or four months every fall – but it supports a year-round industry of small family businesses, like ACI. “My mother started the company in 1963 with $100 and a card table,” said Pat Currie, the owner of ACI.
Fifty-five years ago, Pat’s mother, Audria, began selling plastic flowers that she made in a toaster oven. “I think she probably showed a lot of people how to do it, that’s how it actually got started,” explained Pat’s wife Gayle.
Audria Currie eventually opened an arts and crafts store. Pat and Gayle went on to expand it into one of the largest distributors of homecoming mum supplies in the state. “I know she’d be excited that we hired family members to take over for us,” Pat said.
Pat’s niece, Parrish McCormick, is now managing the company her grandmother founded. “It’s humbling to see it and be a part of it,” she said. “We work all year to get ready for six to eight weeks of very hard work. It’s like a hailstorm is for people in insurance.”
Most of ACI’s customers are also small family businesses. “That’s pretty much the way the whole market is when it comes to mums,” said Cecilia Valudos, owner of C&C Floral Events in Colleyville. “They are definitely family-owned businesses.”
She’s been buying supplies from ACI for 14 years – the entire time she’s been in business – to make spectacular custom mums. That’s what sets her apart. “I have some senior ones I’m working on. They like theirs to be the showpiece,” she said as she glued sliver sparkles to a thick piece of white cardboard hand cut in the shape of a drill team boot.
“When we started, mums were much smaller, but about a decade ago, they started growing," she said. She makes everything by hand. “Everything that goes on a mum is done by hand,” she said. “There are no machines that can take its place.”
While Valudos sets herself apart with custom designs, Amy Fogarty focuses on volume. Fogarty is the co-owner of The Mum Shop in Plano, where about 45 staff members hand-make about 11,000 mums and garters every season. “So, it’s seven days a week, 16 to 18 hours a day, for 14 to 16 weeks,” she said, adding with a laugh, “Nobody’s allowed to get married. Nobody’s allowed to die. Nobody’s allowed to get sick.”
Fogarty, her mother and aunt started The Mum Shop in 1984. “It is very special,” she said. “How many people get to say that they’ve gotten to work with their moms for 35 years? I mean, I can’t imagine it any other way.”
When the homecoming season ends, these small businesses take a short break but, “by the first of November we’ll start planning for 2019 season,” said McCormick.
During Christmas holidays, Valudos is often braiding ribbons into elaborate chains. And by January, it’s full speed ahead. “For us, it’s a tradition,” Valudos said. “And we want that tradition to continue.”