The gates open on Floriade 2024 at 9:30 am this Saturday. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
The 37th Floriade opens in Commonwealth Park this weekend, so head gardener Tim Howard can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
He and his team have spent the past 18 months pulling together the ACT’s largest annual event, painstakingly planting more than 480,000 tulip bulbs and 520,000 annuals on their hands and knees across 13 uniquely designed garden beds.
So you can imagine the disappointment when high daytime temperatures two weeks ago tricked some of the flowers into blooming too early.
The gardeners scrambled to pump extra water into the beds to help cool the soil, but some still haven’t made it. The daffodils, for instance, are past their best-before date.
But Tim, Floriade head gardener of three years now, assures visitors there will be plenty to see over every single day of the next four weeks.
“I’ve never seen this park more colourful,” he says.
For this year’s theme of ‘Art in Bloom’, the classic blooms you see every year are complemented by displays “celebrating different forms of art – music, film, literature, paintings”.
One bed is laid out as Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and another as a bar of music, complete with notes in different coloured flowers.
“The way we’ve put the colours together this year means they’re going to pop more so than ever,” Tim says.
“We’ve used lots of yellows and reds and purples. I’d really recommend seeing the park each week, and I can’t wait to invite everyone in to see it.”
Chief Minister and Minister for Tourism Andrew Barr was similarly upbeat.
“The park has come up tremendously,” he said.
“It’s been months and months of work to prepare for Canberra’s biggest tourism event. We can expect more than 450,000 people through the gates and an economic contribution of over $50 million to the territory’s economy.
“And if we have a run of great Canberra spring weather, I think we can beat last year’s records.”
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr officially opening Floriade 2024. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Last year, Floriade, together with its after-dark sibling, NightFest, attracted 433,271 visitors and contributed $51.1 million to the ACT economy. Floriade 2019 holds the record for visitor numbers, with 507,550.
However, Mr Barr also flagged some possible changes for the festival, starting with the date.
“Certainly, as part of the evaluation of the event at its conclusion, we’re going to look at its scheduling to see whether we do need to make a relatively small shift, perhaps of a week or so, just to reflect the fact that the climate is changing.
“We’ll see how we go over this month … And we’ll take some advice from horticulturists on that.”
The ACT Government is also in talks with the National Capital Authority (NCA) about installing more “permanent infrastructure” in Commonwealth Park to make Floriade – and other events – easier and cheaper to set up.
“We’ll work closely with the NCA on opportunities – that can be everything from more permanent facilities that will support events, to improvements to Stage 88, to the inclusion of some permanent fencing that would support live-music events,” Mr Barr said.
“For example, it costs a lot of money to put up the temporary fencing around Floriade every year.
“I would hope that the federal government would see the benefit in a relatively modest investment on their part to support not only Floriade but also the NCA and Commonwealth Park.”
Floriade 2024 is open daily at Commonwealth Park from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, from Saturday, 14 September to Sunday, 13 October.
Nightfest, with several “adult-only” shows, will be held from 6:30 to 10:30 pm, from 3 to 6 October.
The festival will finish with the ‘Great Big Bulb Dig’ on Monday, 14 October. Funds raised on the day will go to Roundabout Canberra and the Indigenous Marathon Foundation, both charity partners of Synergy Group, Floriade’s name sponsor.
To view the full Floriade program, buy tickets to Nightfest, or for information on parking, shuttle and ferry services, visit Floriade Australia.
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