Overview
Start making spring plans: the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers has locked in exactly when you'll be able to frolic surrounded by blooms and blossoms at the beloved festival in 2024. The event will turn 75 this year, but is set to start its celebrations a bit later than in recent years. Accordingly, you'll be waiting a couple of weeks into September, rather than kicking off the season with a trip west of Brisbane.
As it has since 2021, the event will brighten up the Darling Downs city for a more than just a couple of weeks, although this year's festival doesn't span a full month. But, after starting on Friday, September 13, it will end on Monday, October 7 — which is a Queensland public holiday.
The setup, as usual, will feature flowers as far as the eye can see. The Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers will also attempt to break its attendance record — again. That occurred in 2022, with 364,775 people making a visit, and then again when 417,517 folks went along in 2023.
"Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers is a very special event — for four weeks in spring, it attracts more than 400,000 people to celebrate the 40-million-plus petals blooming across the city's parks," said Councillor James O'Shea, Chair of the Toowoomba Regional Council Environment and Community Services Committee.
"Like its well-tended gardens, the event continues to bloom, and in 2024 will celebrate 75 years. We are thrilled that more attendance and revenue records have been broken at last year's event, as people from all over Australia and internationally, converged on our Garden City," O'Shea continued.
The 2024 program won't be revealed until Thursday, March 28; however, garden lovers can look forward to blossoms and floral displays galore, as always. Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers takes over a variety of locations — including Laurel Bank Park and the Botanic Gardens of Queens Park — to showcase all of the gorgeous florets and growths and gardens around town, kaleidoscopic arrays of tulips, petunias and poppies included.
2023's fest also spanned everything from twilight tours to a succulent festival, plus a ferris wheel, bonsai show, a heap of strolls across Toowoomba, a sideshow alley filled with games, the dog-friendly Petals and Pups program, a cinema under the stars, three nights of fireworks and the three-day Festival of Food and Wine. It boasted the #trEATS regional food trail, too, which showcases local eateries, and sees participating cafes, restaurants and bars serve up floral-inspired dishes.
Whatever ends up on the 2024 lineup, there's no bad time to head along throughout from mid-September to mid-October — and you might want to make the trek more than once. Indeed, when it comes to scenic spring sights, there's no prettier place to be. And, given it takes less than two hours to head up the mountain from Brisbane, it's perfect for a weekend day trip.
The 2024 Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers will run Friday, September 13–Monday, October 7 across Toowoomba. For further information, head to the event's website.