Canberra’s Floriade returns to Commonwealth Park again this year, and the theme this year is floral wonderland, featuring over one million blooms. The annual flower festival will run from Saturday, 16 September, to Sunday, 15 October 2023. This correlates with school holidays, and Floriade is the perfect place to take kids and show them the beauty of Canberra in the spring!
Floriade – Australia’s Biggest Celebration of Spring
Floriade has been celebrating the start of spring since 1988, drawing in over 300,000 visitors from across Australia each year to the capital. This makes it the largest flower festival in the southern hemisphere. Every year there’s a diverse program of entertainment to explore, including food and wine stalls, horticultural workshops, market traders, and artistic displays. There are also activities for the little ones, including teacups and a giant slide, as well as a ferris wheel that gives amazing views across Canberra. Floriade is a free, non-ticketed event held a short walk from the City Centre. The gates open from 9.30am to 5.30 pm daily.
What’s On This Year At Floriade
Nightfest, Floriade’s Dark Side
Nightfest offers the chance to experience Floriade at night, illuminated with colour and filled with a full program of entertainment and cultural celebrations. This year’s festival will host a world-class, adults-only cabaret show and Australian singing duo Vika & Linda. Nightfest also offers a multitude of places to dine on some of Canberra’s best food with a glass of wine in hand. That’s your weekend plans sorted!
Unlike Floriade during the day, you do need to purchase tickets to discover the burst of magic at night. Entry costs $35 dollars for adults, and you can purchase them through the Floriade website from August onwards.
Dogs Day Out
Furry friends are normally forbidden from entering Floriade, but on the last day of Floriade (October 15), dogs are welcome for the annual ‘Dog Day Out.’ This gives them a chance to experience a little bit of the fun as well and frolic among the garden beds. There’s a plethora of doggy-themed stalls on the day, with bespoke treats and stylish outfits for the 4-legged. The unique events this year include a demonstration by the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Companion Dog Club Display Team and the Annual Dogs Day Out Fashion Paw-rade. Any dog with a flair for fashion can enter on the day for a chance to win prizes.
Great Big Bulb Dig
We’ve all walked through Floriade and imagined what the beautiful flowers would look like in our own garden. The Great Big Bulb Dig, held the day after Floriade ends (October 16), gives you the opportunity to make this a reality. Unlike the strict no-touching rules during Floriade itself, you’re actually encouraged to rip the bulbs out of the ground and take them home! You can do this by purchasing a bag from the Floriade shop for $15, which counts as your entry ticket. You’re then allowed to fill the bag up with as many flowers as you want.
All proceeds from the sale of the bags go to charity. This year, Floriade 2023 is supporting Roundabout Canberra and the Indigenous Marathon Foundation.
Floriade Community
Floriade isn’t just limited to Commonwealth Park, thanks to the Floriade Community. This was an initiative launched in 2020 when Floriade itself was cancelled due to Covid-19. More than 80 community groups planted flowers to help create a ‘Tulip Trail’ through Canberra suburbs. This ensured the beauty of the flower festival was still accessible during the lockdowns.
It was so popular it’s continuing for the third year in a row, this year on an even bigger scale. 94 community groups have planted 300,000 bulbs, and you can find out how to follow the Tulip Trail by following the map on the official Floriade website.
