(Facebook/Ollek Nurseries).

By Aaron Schulze

Heli-pop-ter

Rise and shine: Kamloops man uses garden centre and helicopter for perfect proposal

May 4, 2021 | 10:12 AM

KAMLOOPS — There weren’t many April showers in Kamloops, but May flowers helped a young man pop the question.

Tanner Hawryluk, his girlfriend, and his stepdaughter all flew in a helicopter over Knutsford on Friday (April 30), where Ollek Nurseries used flats of flowers to spell out “MARRY ME?”

“When we got close to the area… [the pilot] said, ‘Up here to the left we’ve got Ollek Nurseries,’” Hawryluk said. “They’re looking out the window and I asked: ‘What does that say?’ She looks at me like she’s just reading it, but she didn’t know I was asking her. She said it out loud: ‘It just says marry me.’ I pulled out the ring and she looked down. It took her a few seconds, and then her face lit up and tears started coming down, and she said yes.”

(Submitted photo/Tanner Hawryluk).

Other than waiting for four months for the customized ring to make its way from the United States to Canada, and some fears of the message not being large enough and the helicopter potentially blowing away the flowers, Hawryluk said the process soared smoothly. Although keeping the question and ring a secret added some extra stress.

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“My stepdaughter kept wondering why I had my coat because it was so hot out, but it was the only thing could fit the ring box in,” Hawryluk laughed. “She said, ‘You just kept putting your hand in your pocket, and you were really sweating a lot.’ I was nervous; I didn’t want to mess it up. You want to make it perfect. She deserves it.”

(Submitted photo/Tanner Hawryluk).

Karen Collins, a worker at Ollek Nurseries for 18 years, said she’s never been a part of any proposal quite like Friday. Coming back to Kamloops on Wednesday after working in the north, Hawryluk presented his idea to staff over the phone to see if it was possible on short notice.

“We didn’t know if we could make it happen, but it happened,” Collins said. “We really enjoyed it, we’re glad he had the idea and that we were happy to assist a local boy and his big dream.”

Whenever their wedding takes place, Hawryluk said he’ll purchase some flowers from Ollek Nurseries as a thank you.

“They didn’t say a word about money,” he said. “They just said they’ll make it happen somehow.”