GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A West Side Grand Rapids staple is celebrating 120 years in business.

Ball Park Floral and Gifts got its start at 8 Valley Ave. near Fulton Street in 1904, owner Jennifer Stehouwer said. The business is celebrating its anniversary Saturday, alongside its annual holiday open house hosted on Small Business Saturday. The festivities will include refreshments, prizes and samples.

“We’re encouraging people to shop small because it’s Small Business Saturday,” Stehouwer said. “It costs more for us to run and operate, but also we want to encourage people to keep their dollars in the local economy, to support our neighbors and support the local people who work here and live here.”

She said the event will double as a celebration of the business’ longevity in the community.

“All the time we hear stories of people who come in and say, ‘My great-grandparents had got their wedding flowers through you and then my grandparents and my parents, and now I’m here for my wedding flowers,'” she said. “So it’s amazing to see the continuity through generations and just the loyalty that everybody has had over the years to support our business.”

Ball Park Floral and Gifts has changed hands a couple of times throughout the years, though Stehouwer said it has always been owned and operated by local families.

The history of the flower shop — originally called the Grand Rapids Floral Co., according to a 1926 advertisement — is documented in the archives of the Grand Rapids History Center at the Grand Rapids Public Library, including articles and advertisements in the Grand Rapids Press and city directories.

Over the years, it offered flower deliveries, wedding floral services and had its own radio program called “Musical Bouquet.”

Joseph Stank took over the business from the original owner sometime in the late 1920s, running the shop for more than three decades. Around 1962, Stank sold it to Bob and Esther Longfield — but only after a doctor insisted he needed to get out of business.

Bob Longfield, a war veteran, started in the floral industry as a salesman, eventually deciding he wanted to own his own business. When he and his wife — who took some convincing to agree to buy Ball Park Floral — took over the floral shop, it was aging and in disrepair.

“At the time, Ball Park Floral was probably one of the most tumbled-down floral shops in the city, but I knew its potential and the kind of business it did,” Bob Longfield told the Grand Rapids Press in 1987. “The customers were good, hard-working people and they sent flowers and special occasions like funerals, weddings and major holidays. I knew that if you gave them good service, they’d come back.”

Around 1968, the flower shop temporarily moved for a few months so crews could tear the building down and rebuild it. The Longfields went on to turn the flower shop back into a successful business, in part because it could order flowers from spots like California and South America.

“We owe it all to the airplane,” Bob Longfield told the Grand Rapids Press in 1982. “We can order a cut flower from California today and have it tomorrow. That’s almost as fast as we can get it from a local grower.”

Around 1987, the shop was taken over by Sharon Wolters, a Ball Park Floral employee who had worked her way up to co-owner. She started out in 1972 doing odd jobs like making coffee and sweeping floors. She opened a second location in Allendale in 2005 with co-owner Krinn VanderSloot, though that location later closed.

Current owner Jennifer Stehouwer took over Ball Park Floral in 2016.

Stehouwer’s first job after a paper route was working at a local flower shop in 2016. She worked her way up in the store, working the cash register, wrapping bouquets and learning how to design. She later started working at a different flower shop, where she learned how to manage a shop and how to prepare flowers for weddings and events.

“The opportunity to buy Ball Park Floral came up and it just seemed like the next step in my career … and an opportunity to continue to grow,” she said.

Ball Park Floral is undergoing a rebrand, keeping the historic name but updating its logo. Stehouwer is also planning on renovating the exterior of the building in the near future.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but we’re hoping to take it step by step and roll it out overtime,” she said.

The business is also starting to offer workshops, like a wreath making workshop set for Dec. 7, and is working to reach younger generations.

Running the business has been both rewarding and challenging, Stehouwer said.

“It’s just been a great opportunity … to carry on a legacy on Grand Rapids’ West Side,” she said. “I was born and raised on the West Side, so I feel like this is my home and my roots and my people. So it’s just been a blessing to be able to carry that on, and then also put my own flavor in it as well.”

Stehouwer said she has stuck with the floral industry because she loves working with her hands and “seeing the beauty of God’s creation.”

“It never ceases to amaze me, it’s always beautiful,” she said. “We’re always in awe of the product that comes in, even after so many years of working with flowers.”

Echoing a sentiment of former owner Bob Longfield, who enjoyed working with customers during some of their most memorable moments, Stehouwer said it’s important to bless people through life events like weddings, funerals and births.

“Those are life’s most meaningful moments,” Stehouwer said. “We’re able to provide something that brings people joy and love and hope and peace in those moments.”