Atlanta, Ga. — The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) Fresh Summit exposition floor opened on Saturday, Oct. 24 with 1,060 exhibitors occupying 267,400 net square feet. The show floor officially opened with the help of Deb Eschmeyer, executive director of Let’s Move! and senior policy advisor for nutrition policy, Miss America and FNV ambassador Betty Cantrell, and Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black joining the PMA Board of Directors and Fresh Summit Chair Brian Cook, San Miguel Produce, director of sales and marketing, at the annual ribbon cutting ceremony.
“We’re grateful to the 1,060+ exhibitors who continue to impress each and every year—without them we wouldn’t be able to say that Fresh Summit is THE place where the global fresh produce and floral industry comes together,” said Loren Queen, marketing and communications manager at Domex Superfresh Growers and chair of the PMA Exhibitor Advisory Committee. “The synergy it takes to put on an expo of this magnitude is incredible. It took more than 59,570 square yards of carpet, 415 workers, 595 freight and refrigerated trailers, 2,800 gallons of propane and more than 600,000 pounds of produce to make this expo happen.”
Attendees took the conversation online with social media, and for the second consecutive year #FreshSummit was marked as one of the most popular social media conversations around the world all day.
Gems Global’s Bonnie Armellini, earns industry honors
Gems Global owner Bonnie Armellini was named the 2015 PMA Floral Marketer of the Year on Saturday evening at the annual floral reception. The award, now in its 35th year, recognizes an outstanding floral professional who has served the mass-market floral industry with dedication and distinction.
“Bonnie helped build the floral industry from those early days when supermarkets were just trying to figure out how to sell flowers. She also paved the way to service mass markets with flowers from South America.,” said Sam Ferrara, co-founder of Passion Growers and 2014 winner, in remarks during the award presentation. “Bonnie is an industry leader, an innovator and — something that everyone knows her comments on —an individual with the highest integrity.”
The PMA Floral Council’s focus includes a continued emphasis on:
- consumer research,
- networking and education through a variety of events, and a
- growing presence at Fresh Summit via dedicated workshop sessions and an expanding floral pavilion which doubled in size this year.
Learn more about PMA’s evolving floral value at www.pma.com/topics/floral.
Source: Produce Marketing Association (PMA)
