Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers
The locals love it and visitors travel from all over the country to get amongst it – coming into its 74th year the award-winning Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers continues to bloom. Spectacular gardens, country touring, live music and local food and wine are just a small taste of what’s on offer over the course of this bloomin’ great month-long September event. It is the longest-running floral event of its kind in Australia as the premiere celebration of horticulture and all things spring.
Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers is all about the florals and the perfect place to dive into the blooms is at the public parks. The 190,000-strong floral displays in Laurel Bank Park and the Botanic Gardens of Queens Park will have you thinking that you’ve landed in the Garden of Eden (the apples are safe here, don’t worry). If you want a behind-the-scenes look into the secret world of the parklands by night, you can even take a twilight tour of Laurel Bank Park where you can get educated on all things green under the stars. Plus, the Grand Central Floral Parade is back and better than ever on Saturday September 16, with Create a Buzz as this year’s theme – dust off that bee fit, we know you want to! You can expect an explosion of colour and eccentricity at this year’s parade, which will be full to the brim with street performers, carnival characters and roving entertainment.
This year’s returning favourites set to plant themselves in the month-long affair is Cinema Under the Stars with a twilight screening of Chicken Run on September 30, along with the fabulous Hanging Baskets at Cobb+Co Museum which sees a display of 50 plus delicately designed baskets of blooms, Sideshow Alley in Queens Park for a kaleidoscopic affair of thrill-seeking rides, dagwood dogs, show bags and more, plus, a cracking display of fireworks each night, and the popular Festival of Food and Wine for a three-day soiree showcasing the best in regional produce and home-grown music acts.
Set to tantalise tastebuds once again (this time for a whole month!), region-wide food trail #trEATS offer foodie lovers a flavourful fiesta of springtime-inspired dishes. So you can tuck into Toowoomba’s delicious food scene whilst saving a pretty penny, this year’s #trEATS will feature a mouth-watering array of cheap eats all ranging from $10 to $20. If you want to continue filling up on some tasty tucker, there’s a huge range of foodie tours happening during the festival.
To take a look at everything happening, head to the official Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers website.