Springtime down under can only mean one thing, Floriade is back for another stunning year in Canberra, with colourful displays of flowers laid out in extraordinary designs in a sea of colour.
From 16 September to 15 October, the festival features another impressive line-up of entertainment and a celebration of ‘Floral Wonderland’. Over a million blooming plants and flowers are now on show throughout the city’s Commonwealth Park, sparking life, beauty, colour, and vibrancy for all who visit.
Floriade is Australia’s biggest annual flower and entertainment festival, held in Canberra’s Commonwealth Park on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. Every year showcases extensive displays of flowering bulbs with integrated sculptures and other artistic features. The theme for this 36th year is Floral Wonderland, and visitors are encouraged to be inquisitive as they escape for a moment into their own imagination as they explore.
Floriade is known for its impressive storytelling through floral displays, and during the day from 23 September to 8 October, guests of all ages can enjoy Circus Wonderland: A Neverland Adventure which takes them back to Neverland with JM Barrie’s classic story of Peter Pan, Wendy, Tinker Bell, Captain Hook, and the Crocodile.
Floriade NightFest is back again from 28 September to 1 October (18:30-22.30), where new lighting installations will highlight the garden beds throughout the park and will include giant neon butterflies in the rhododendron garden and scores of illuminated floating flowers on Kangaroo Pond. This year, the festival has invited local and interstate performers, including legendary artists Vika and Linda, who will be performing on Stage 88 on 1 October from 20:00. NightFest is a creative exploration of Floriade’s dark side, with the Wonderland Spiegeltent running two shows per night of Popcorn Underground, a world-class, adults only cabaret. The show requires an additional ticket for entry which can be added when purchasing NightFest tickets online.
For more details on the entire NightFest program information and to purchase tickets visit floriadeaustralia.com.
Floriade, along with NightFest, continues to be one of Canberra’s biggest tourist attractions extending visitors’ stay in Canberra and contributing to the city’s ambitious target of $ 4 billion in visitor expenditure by 2030. Events like NightFest attract people to visit the city area and add to Canberra’s night-time economy, benefiting hospitality and other night-time businesses. Last year’s festival attracted over 187,000 interstate and international visitors, and nearly 30,000 NightFest attendees.
