St-Char-Ro: A blooming success at 50

Main Street in Ronan was closed to traffic Saturday as St-Char-Ro celebrated its 50th anniversary with a street fair, inflatable bounce houses, classic cars and even a miniature race track.

At the back of the shop, located at 301 Main, founder Janet Gardner sat at a small table welcoming well-wishers, while kids and grandkids wandered in and out. Her husband and business partner, Dennis Gardner, dropped in for a photo before lending his expertise to setting up a tent for pinochle players.

Janet was 23 when she started St-Char-Ro –  named for the communities it serves: St. Ignatius, Charlo and Ronan. Dennis had completed a stint in the Army, and the couple had returned to the Mission Valley after being stationed in Germany.

“We traveled all over while we were there,” she recalls. “We were done with traveling.”

She grew up in Charlo, and recounted how she and her mom, Nancy Grisamer, were encouraged to open a floral shop in Ronan by a friend who had owned a flower shop and had some background in the business. Plus, she said, the local bank and other community leaders “wanted a floral shop in town.”

“Anyway, they sent me off to school for six weeks in Portland” while her mom took care of the couple’s four kids. “Then mom and I kind of dug in and started the floral shop.”

They opened on Mother’s Day of 1975, less than a block from their present location in the building now occupied by Mission Valley Printing. They had purchased a suggested inventory of plants and flowers from the wholesale vendor in Missoula.

“Whatever we had, it sold out in two hours,” Janet recalls. “And we were like, ‘oh, this is a little more than what we were thinking.’”

They were recruited to join the Montana Florist Association “so we ended up with a lot of support from the state.”

A few years later, they moved into the shop on Main Street, which had previously been a church and before that, a grocery store. Doug Allard, a tribal member and well-known entrepreneur, owned the building next door, and offered to give it to the Gardners for their business.

According to Janet, Allard told her husband, “You're a good, honest man. You guys are hardworking. And he says, ‘I could put it up for sale, but I don't want to mess around with all that.’”

Allard even paid property taxes for the current year, and the next.

“So we broke a hole in the wall” and expanded the business, Janet recalls.

Her husband, who was hauling milk from local dairies at the time, lost his route after the state deregulated the dairy industry. With four children still at home, they decided to build the business instead of move.

“In order for Dennis and I to stay married, we made his line and mine,” Janet said with a little twinkle. “And that’s what you have to do.”

They expanded into event rentals, and now offer tents, chairs, tables, linens, portable dance floors, and even inflatables and games. Janet presided in the floral department, and her mom – a very accomplished seamstress and quilter – helped fit dresses and tuxedos, which they rented to prom-goers.

Tuxes “are not a big item now, but they’ll be back,” Janet predicted. “We’ve rented several this year, but there were years when we did 50 or more for prom season.”

The couple expanded ownership in 2014 to include daughter and son-in-law Connie and Roger Romero. Although Connie does the bulk of flower-arranging these days, Janet still plies the craft she learned 50 years ago in the back room.

“They bring the flowers and stack them around here,” she gestures to her work table. “They fix the containers for me and I design.”

    Aspiring drivers took miniature race cars for a spin during the St-Char-Ro anniversary celebration and street festival Saturday in Ronan. (Kristi Niemeyer/Leader)