Spring is the season when beautiful flowers are blooming and the real estate market and the house prices in Canberra are booming. It is also the time when Canberra’s most premier and sought after spring festival, Floriade is held.
Developed in 1988 as a grand floral tribute to mark Australia’s Bicentenary and Canberra’s 75th anniversary, Floriade has become Canberra’s most iconic annual tourism event and Australia’s premier spring festival. What started as a one-off programme now runs every year owing to its popularity and success. It showcases one million flowers in bloom throughout Canberra’s Commonwealth Park. This floral display of more than a million bulbs and annuals is spread across 8,000 square metres of inner-city parkland and is a lot more than just a flower show. It is a diverse, ever-growing programme of music, cultural celebrations, food and wine, horticultural workshops, artistic displays, entertainment and recreational activities. The entry to the event is free and it welcomes more than 400,000 local, interstate and international visitors every year.
This year, it is set to delight everyone with 30 days of bloom, food, and entertainment from Saturday, September 15, 2018, until Sunday, October 14, 2018. One can revel in a remarkable array of retro-inspired flowerbeds and a festival programme brimming with live music, horticultural displays and unmissable entertainment. It will be open daily from 9.30 AM to 5.30 PM, as the weather permits. The last entry to the event will be 30 minutes before closing.
It is followed by a Nightfest, where Floriade becomes an illuminated wonderland with five nights of entertainment, food and more. This year, it will be held from Wednesday, September 26 until Sunday, September 30. One can meander through the illuminated and enthralling Nautalis Forest with its spiralling trees that swell and pulse with colour, before heading to the stage for the nightly entertainment.
On Wednesday, Stage 88 will transform into an open-air cinema for Movie Nightfest. On Thursday, the energy will go up with performances from Lucy Sugerman, Mojo Juju, and Thelma Plum, before Bowie Unzipped and Kate Miller- Heidke hit the stage on Friday. Party Nightfest on Saturday will be followed by Comedy Nightfest MA 15+ on Sunday where Akmal Saleh, Arj Barker and more will be there to tickle your funny bone. This is a great time to visit Canberra and witness not just the celebration of spring, but also the spirit of the people of Canberra.