'Big Tradition': How Local Florists Create Preakness Floral Blankets

ANNE ARUNDEL CO., MD — For every running of the Black-Eyed Susan and Preakness stakes since 1996, the flower blankets placed on winning horses have been made by a group of Giant florists.

The construction of the blankets was initially done out of a warehouse in Jessup before the operation moved to the Giant at 6340 York Road in 2004.

This year, that tradition carried on — even after the horse racing event changed its venue to Laurel Park while the historic Pimlico Racing Course closed for redevelopment.

From about 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, a handful of florists from local Giant stores came together at the York Road Plaza location to build the two flower blankets being used at the races.

The blanket for the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes was made Thursday, and the Preakness arrangement on Friday.

Related: Where To Attend Preakness Watch Parties

Florist Mary Pat Walbrecher, who has participated in the blanket-making for more than 20 years, told Patch it takes eight hours for six people to work on the Black-Eyed Susan blanket, whereas eight to 10 people are needed to build out the blanket for the Preakness.

Why, you wonder? Because the Preakness blanket is much larger.

About 3,500 Viking pom flowers are picked, cut and hand-stitched together into a felt-backed mat by the team, which prioritizes flowers with the largest blooms in order to maximize coverage without making the blanket too heavy for the horses.

The Preakness blanket weighs about 35 pounds. By comparison, the Black-Eyed Susan floral has some 2,500 blooms, weighing in closer to 25 pounds.

"If we put the small ones on the blanket, the blanket would be too heavy for the horse," Walbrecher told Patch. "You have to be very thoughtful of the weight."

Throughout the day, as the floral crew plucks and stitches away, a mix of Giant customers approach and ask questions about the work.

As one customer asked for a status update on the blanket, another inquired whether it was OK to touch the petals.

Walbrecher told Patch that sometimes customers or fellow Giant employees will come up to see if they can add a flower to the blanket.

"There's a lot of excitement, a lot of people want to put a flower in and we let them," she said. "The community gets very excited."

"It's a big tradition in this area," she added.

Once both blankets are given the final sign-off, Walbrecher said the flowers are sprayed with a wax and covered to ensure they're kept in pristine shape for the races.

In total, the group sifts through about 50 batches of 12-stem flower bundles by the end of the project. Once it's out of their hands, the work is transferred to the racing site in time for their grand reveal.

And after that, the flowers will make the rounds from the jockey to the trainer, and the horse, of course.

A Floral Surprise

While the schedule for the flower blankets stuck to the traditional timeline, this year's work included a little something extra by the group.

Unlike past years, the 2026 crew came together to make a bouquet for Marty Bass, the longtime Baltimore reporter for local station WJZ.

Bass, who hosts the station's "Where's Marty" special, announced he was retiring after nearly 50 years in the business.

The Black-Eyed Susan Stakes kicks off from Laurel Park on Friday at 6:14 p.m. Saturday's Preakness gets underway at 6:50 p.m.