Feast at the Festival
Kicking off the Carnival is perennial favourite Festival of Food and Wine. From September 13-15, this sumptuous celebration will be filling Queens Park with sounds, sights, and sensational bites as it showcases the best of Queensland’s regional produce and live music acts. Sample an incredible array of more than 35 local food and wine offerings including pop-up cellar doors, cocktail bars, beer, wine and cheese tasting and a pit yard staffed by barbecue bosses. 

While your taste buds are being titillated, let your ears be serenaded by a top-notch line of talented musos from Thirsty Merc and Pete Murray, to Kate Ceberano and James Reyne. On Friday night, let down your hair and kick your feet up to live DJ sets from Yuggera-artist dameela, chart-toppers Mashd N Kutcher and more!

TV’s powerhouse pastry prodigy Anna Polyviou will be leading Farm to Fork demonstrations during the festival, allowing you to see first hand how the colourful celebrity chef crafts her sensational sweets. Watch as Anna, with her punk street style and distinctive pink mohawk, prepares basque cheesecakes, cheese and charcuterie baguettes and some mouth-watering cookie dough pies.

A Little Night Music
Let your soul flower under the starry night sky at this special open-air concert on October 4. Celebrating the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers’ 75th birthday, Symphony Under the Stars with Queensland Symphony Orchestra is sure to be an evening to remember. The full orchestra will be in attendance, under the baton of Chief Conductor Umberto Clerici in his first trip to the Garden City. The symphonic squad will be performing classics from the likes of George Gershwin, Claude Debussy and Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky within the iconic Queens Park Amphitheatre. Pack a picnic, or partake in the bar and food stalls operating on site, and settle in for an evening of musical magic. 

Throw your dog a bone
Man’s best friends have been a mainstay at the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers from the very first grand parade which was led by Toowoomba’s first canine Ambassadog, Puppy the Pomeranian. To this day a statue commemorating this beloved pooch stands in the Picnic Point Parklands, overlooking the Great Dividing Range.

Completely dedicated to hounds and their humans Petals and Pups is the carnival’s official dog-friendly program. Boasting more than 20 dog-friendly activities and 27 off-leash parks, as well as dog-friendly cafés, restaurants and accommodation recommendations – it’s totally pawsome. Even the much-loved Ferris Wheel in the Botanic Gardens will be welcoming well-behaved dogs on board, so you and your four-legged friend can share the best blooming views of the festival’s flowers. 

The Carnival team has curated three different itineraries for a fun-filled dog’s day out. There’s an itinerary for the cultured canine with art-filled laneway strolls, long lunches and a visit to the iconic Picnic Point parkland to take a snap with Puppy, as well as a day plan for the pampered pup featuring puppycinos, doggy day spas and a shopping pit-stop at local treasure trove Harold’s. Finally, there’s even a schedule for the adventure dog, which includes a hearty breakfast at Piccolo Papa, off-leash adventuring around Garnett Lehmann Park and free-range roaming at Dr Alex Horn Park. 

This article was created in partnership with our friends at Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. To see the full program, head to the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers website.