It was somewhat of an unusual affair.

Central to the celebration were flowers; upon flowers; upon flowers. Of an unusual breed for the Houston market, these flowers were tropical and multicolored in their bloom. And the crowd they brought in was anything but average.

Among the attendees at the Greater Houston Partnership’s luncheon in honor of the Foreign Trade Corporation of Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Association of Flower Growers, better-known as ACOFLOR, were the honorable Consul General of Costa Rica in Houston, Sergio Alonso Valverde Alpizar; Rick Vacar, director of the Houston Airport System; Renee Carpenter, former president of Allied Florists of Houston; and a host of local and regional floral industry insiders.

What they were celebrating was the building of new business opportunities between Houston and Costa Rica via the still-under-construction new perishables cooling facility at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).

Slated to open later this year, the 60,000 square foot cargo-handling facility will be located on-airport in the IAH CargoCenter and will offer direct ramp access for cargo airlines as well as importers and distributors of perishable goods.

For countries like Costa Rica, for whom flower exportation is the bread and butter of their economies, Houston is a much-anticipated new entry into the robust US consumer market.

Traditionally much of this floral traffic has been transported into the country via oceanfront destinations such as Miami. That is no longer the case.

“You don’t have to takeover the entire pie to be successful,” said Carpenter of the city’s new air cargo venture. “The (flower) industry is so large that even if you just take a small piece of the pie, you will be profitable.”

Carpenter also noted that importing more flowers through Houston would improve the diversity of Houston’s current floral selection. According to her, consumers buy what they are told to buy.