By RAY QUIROGA
publisher@sbnewspaper.com
Arguably, mums are more associated with the fall homecoming season and high school football games than the dog days of the South Texas summer. Still, an avid and growing group of creators of these floral masterpieces converged in the Resaca City in late July to learn and share their creations, and even compete for bragging rights.
Around 60 homecoming mum “crafters” convened in San Benito from as far as Houston, Dallas and even New York on the final weekend of July for a workshop/competition event organized by San Benito’s Esther Guerrero. Four professional designers, including Guerrero, led the attendees.
Guerrero owns Viral Mums in San Benito known for crafting “Mega Mums.” As the name suggests, Guerrero specialized in what she describes as “huge” custom homecoming mums.
Guerrero said there’s a significant Homecoming Mum social media community where she shared details about the workshop/competition geared towards beginner crafters.
Guerrero explained that she began making homecoming mums as a hobby about 20 years ago when she began designing her daughter’s mums, and it quickly turned into a passion. That passion evolved into a revenue generator and a year-round, full-time career.
“We make mums all year long. We’re making braids. We’re making the crowns, the wording and accessories all year long,” Guerrero explained.
She said this is the first such workshop in San Benito and in the Lower Valley.
Guerrero added that participants represented all walks of life from young adults in their 20s to men and women in their 60s.
The empresario said when she was in high school, mums were outside her family’s budget, citing economics as a reason why she began designing them for her daughter.
“As I got older, I started saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to start making them for at least the girls in San Benito, and make them affordable so they can have at least that one and have the memory of having a homecoming mum,’” said Guerrero.
Guerrero added that like the mums themselves, her orders, “just keep on getting bigger and bigger” by the year. When asked if bigger is always better — pertaining to the designs — Guerrero said, “For me, it is, but that’s maybe not the case for everybody,” reminding this reporter that she specializes in mega mums, which range to 24 inches wide.
“In fact, they call me the Mega Mum Queen,” she said.
Guerrero is also known for her unique designs including a specialized design that can be affixed to a person’s back and a belt design.
While the homecoming mums phenomenon is particularly popular in the Lone Star State, Guerrero says she receives orders from as far as Oklahoma and California and can see the tradition growing outside the South and Southwest, particularly due to social media.
“I have people who see my page, and they say, ‘What is that? What are you doing?’ They want to know the history behind it,” said Guerrero.
Depending on the source, modern homecoming mum designs can be traced to the 1930s or 50s and began as traditional corsages created from real chrysanthemums (hence the term, ‘mum’). The designs and tradition blossomed from there.
For more information, or to place an order, Guerrero can be reached at Viral Mums on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. As a side note, Guerrero produces other arrangements, crafts and costumes.
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