Each year embassies and international floral designers participating in the Flower Mart produce extraordinary displays of floral arrangements native to the nations, which are displayed in the interior alcoves of the Church itself with one of the embassies selected as the honorary chair and the featured nation.
The opening of the event was attended by the honorary guests among who were Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA Oleh Shamshur, the second Ambassador of the USA to Ukraine, William Miller, the National Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III and Rt. Rev. Episcopal Bishop John Bryson Chane, D.D. of Washington, D.C, Most Rev. Archbishop Antony of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and Chairman of the 2010 Flower Mart Lydia Chopivsky-Benson.
Natalia Honcharenko, Director of the Museum of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA in memory of Patriarch Mstyslav I, sang the Ukrainian National Anthem for the opening. Archbishop Antony greeted the guests in the name of our Church, thanking the All Hallows Guild for honoring Ukraine as the featured nation of the Flower Mart, reminding the guests that for the past 400 years – under the Tsarist and Communist regimes – Ukraine was forced to suppress the expression of her own identity, but during this festival she was able to shine, as she has since the break-up of the Soviet Union. The Archbishop expressed the gratitude of many parishes of the UOC of USA, which, during their formative years were welcomed into established Episcopalian parishes and offered a place to worship, in some cases for many years. He stated that during the 100th anniversary celebrations of the UOC of USA in 2015, this Christian kindness will be remembered and celebrated.
