Floriade springs forth as sunny weather brings out the blooms and crowds

The main problem with Floriade is that it is an annual “pop-up” event and we all know how successful that concept is in Canberra. It cost’s a lot to set it up and pull it down every year for just a few weeks – I doubt if we get any aggregate profit from the tourist trade as most make it a one day excursion. It needs a permanent site and land adjacent to the Molonglo River behind the languishing Arboretum would be a good place to start.

And as usual, there appears little support given to local businesses by the ACT government who even buy the compost for the temporary garden beds from interstate (it is acknowledged that Martins are also a Floriade sponsor) http://www.martinsfertilizers.com.au/floriade.html

Interestingly, the elsewhere photos on Martins website show compost being processed at a competitors Canberra facility in Mugga Lane who are also an ACT government joint venture partner in a huge real estate development in the north of the ACT, straddling NSW. http://www.martinsfertilizers.com.au/photos.html

I don’t want to be a wet blanket here but Floriade is just the same thing year in, year out. You go there, you take heaps of photos which are almost identical to the ones you took last year, and the year before, and the year before that ad infinitum.

I know they’ve tried to jazz it up a bit in recent years with specific themes such as Centenary of Anzac, Aussie movies, etc but essentially it is just the same old flowers in the same old flower beds with the same old merch stalls and cafe tents.

Please, can’t we have something different than this monotony year after year? Floriade jumped the shark many moons ago.