Coming Together for Dragon Flowers

Community Supports Mile End Flower Shop After Fire

NewsGeoffrey Vendeville — Published April 28, 2013

After Tamey Lau lost her Mile End flower shop in a devastating fire the night of April 23, thousands of people from the neighbourhood, and others as far away as Vancouver, came to her support. Every day since the fire, customers and friends have dropped by the boarded-up store to offer their sympathy and donate money to help rebuild Dragon Flowers, a Mile End fixture of 27 years.

The day after the fire, a family friend of Lau’s started a “fire recovery fund” on a crowd-funding website with a goal of $10,000. So far the campaign has raised almost $14,000 in donations from across the country.

“It’s just very surprising,” Lau said describing the outpour of support she has received. “This kind of love is Mile End. In Mile End, the energy is amazing,” she added before stepping out of the burned-out store to greet a customer.

“Come back and tell me how your exams went!” Lau tells the young lady as she hands her a bouquet of fresh flowers.

Lau says she still doesn’t know what caused the blaze that gutted her store. She was preparing dinner at her daughter’s apartment a few blocks away when her son called to alert her that a fire had broken out.

“There were firemen everywhere, everything was burning,” Lau recalled. “I thought, ‘This is game over.’ I’ve worked here for more than 20 years […] It made me so sad. It was so painful.”

Lau’s son, Tino, was one of the first at the scene of the fire. He was about to go to bed in the apartment above the shop, where he lives with his mother, when his sister smelled smoke. Tino went downstairs and found the store in flames.

“I can’t really describe how it felt,” he said. “It’s my mom’s whole life here. She put all her heart into it, to raise us. And now that it’s all gone, it’s really sad. You work your entire life for something, and in a few hours you lose everything.”

“There are so many people with different stories about how my mom helped them. She saved couples, she saw people grow up, and they always remember my mom.”
—Tino Lau

Since then, Tino and Lau’s other children have spent most of their time helping their mother clean up the mess. As of yet, they do not know when the store will reopen, but they hope to be ready for Mother’s Day.

Yesterday, Tino was carrying pots and statues away in preparation for a garage sale his family is hosting outside the organic food store, Bio Terre, on April 28.

Like his mom, Tino said he feels moved by the community’s response to the fire.

“I was really, really surprised. In one day, a thousand people came together. It was really touching. There are so many people with different stories about how my mom helped them. She saved couples, she saw people grow up—and they always remember my mom.

“I saw on Facebook that someone made a donation from Vancouver, and she said she used to live in Mile End nine years ago and still remembers my mom,” he said.

So many people in the neighbourhood have reached out to Lau that she has trouble remembering all their names.

“There was one group of musicians—they’re called Fire… something?,” she said, drawing a blank. “Fire Alligator? I don’t know their name because my English is no good. Fire Me Away?”

“Arcade Fire!” Tino interjected as he carried a box out the backdoor. “Right! They support me a lot,” Lau said.

Last Wednesday, Arcade Fire tweeted “Tamey has filled our homes with flowers for years and is well loved in our neighbourhood. Let’s help her out!” followed by a link to Dragon Flowers’ fire recovery crowd-funding page.

Most of all, Lau says she is grateful for the kindness and generosity of “Mile End’s kids.”

“In Mile End, the kids are amazing. From two years-old, to 15, 20 – they’re all my kids. They drew me a lot of pictures and sent me a lot of love.”

“They drew me this picture,” she said pointing to a coloured-pencil drawing of her name, ornamented with flowers and hearts, hanging on the wall.

Thirteen-year-old Tomas Kovac stopped by Dragon Flowers with his mother on Friday afternoon to say hello. The day after the fire, Kovac went to the shop to comfort Lau and make a donation.
“I donated $50 because she was always kind to me, and she would sometimes give me little treats, but mostly she just makes my day,” Kovac said.

Holding a chocolate and vanilla sundae with rainbow sprinkles, Kovac says he often goes to the shop to chat with Lau and buy flowers. Asked who the flowers were for, he said they are for his mother.

“I don’t have a girlfriend yet,” he said, “Soon.”

Kovac’s mother, Mary-Ann, says that Dragon Flowers is “much more than just a business.”

“They have a relationship, her and Tomas,” she said. “She has a connection to everyone. It’s not a regular flower shop.”