Floriade, Canberra
| Floriade | |
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Floriade in 2013
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| Genre | Flower show |
| Date(s) | September to October |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Canberra |
| Inaugurated | 1988 |
| Attendance | 481,854 (2014) |
| Website | |
| http://www.floriadeaustralia.com/ | |
Floriade is a flower and entertainment festival held annually in Canberra's Commonwealth Park featuring extensive displays of flowering bulbs with integrated sculptures and other artistic features. Floriade comes from the Latin word floriat, which means to design with flowers.
The festival attracts tourists from around Australia and overseas in spring from mid September to mid October each year, and is considered the most important regular event for tourism in the Australian Capital Territory. It is also called "Australia's Celebration of Spring". After some controversy regarding an entry charge, admission to Floriade has been free for a number of years.
Floriade was the idea of Christiaan Slotemaker de Bruine, Landscape Architect with the Department of Capital Territory in Canberra. He commenced the design in 1986 and based it on the world famous 'Keukenhof' garden in The Netherlands. He orchestrated the construction with Peter Sutton, Holticulturist and Manager of Commonwealth Garden. He arranged the marketing, sculptures, live music, the purchase of bulbs, entertainment, lifting of bulb quarantine quotas as well as the design. Together with Peter Sutton, they build the design on the Site of Commonwealth Park with the help of City Parks staff. The design concept was 'multiculturalism of the Nation' and included Dutch and Aboriginal floral layouts. Chris obtained sponsorship from the Embassy of the Netherlands and the Bicentennial Authority. Peter and Chris continued their successful partnership during the next two years, 1989 and 1990.
Floriade started in 1988 as a one off celebration of Canberra's 75th birthday and Australia's Bicentenary of European settlement. Due to the success and popularity of the event, it has run every year since then with each year having a new theme and is currently the largest flower festival in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 300,000 visitors each year.
In September 2005 ACT tourism authorities considered legal action over a trademark violation with Hunter Valley Gardens in New South Wales, who had renamed their annual floral festival to Floriade Hunter Valley Gardens. The term Floriade was replaced with Festival of Flowers in 2006.
Floriade gives expression to public art, each year commissioning works which are placed in the Floriade gardens. Some remain beyond the festival. Floriade also showcases musical displays with many live performances, cultural celebrations, artistic displays, entertainment and recreational activities.
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Wikipedia