It doesn’t happen often. It just so happens that 2018 is one of those special years. The Macy’s flower show, which covers two Easters (Western and Orthodox) and Passover, is a religious trifecta! Not to mention April Fool’s Day. Come to think of it, that last holiday may play a bigger role in the flower show this year than I initially realized.

In celebration of this astronomically rare constellation of holidays, the flower show, officially titled “Once Upon a Springtime” and currently the only spring in town, turns to the macabre. I didn’t see that coming.

The first flower exhibit that I stumble on is a Traveler caravan, fully labeled. Children are lined up to get their picture taken with a man dressed up as a Traveler. For decades, Travelers and Gypsies have fought an uphill battle against one of the last bastions of ‘acceptable’ racism in Europe. Historically, Travelers have been accused of stealing children.

Next up, nothing says Easter and Springtime like…a fire-breathing dragon? It gets cool points, but I’m not sure how it helps pull the whole thing together. That is until I see the skulls as flower pots dangling from a prison-like window.

It’s at this moment that I realize that I’m in a Hansel and Gretel dystopia. Not the Disney version, but the one envisioned by the Brothers Grimm. If you want to catch a glimpse of Macy’s flower show dystopia, you’d better hurry! The flowers die on April 8^th.