The Gilded Lily Florist marks reopening at Monroe Street location

The Gilded Lily Florist will celebrate its grand reopening Friday with refreshments and a lion dance performance by a local Vietnamese youth group.

The event will be 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at 2218 N. Monroe St. and continue 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Normal shop hours will resume Monday: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Owner Toi Mulligan originally opened her shop in January 1997, providing a full-service florist shop with a specialty in the Japanese floral art of ikebana.

Mulligan said she discovered the art form while browsing books at an antique store in England. Being Chinese, she said she was unable to read the Japanese book on ikebana, but thought she could recreate the arrangements.

After she and her husband, Phillip, moved to Spokane in 1986 for his retirement, she joined a local Ikebana International chapter, where she studied the art form under the school of Sogetsu.

After 19 years in business, Mulligan sold her shop and retired in 2016. But Mulligan said the new owner returned ownership to her in July 2017. Mulligan said she was saddened to see the state of the business upon her return from a long vacation in Vietnam, but was inspired to reopen after seeing the revitalization of Monroe Street this past summer.