The Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, the country’s most picturesque event, celebrates Springtime throughout the month of September.

Now famous around the country, the Carnival of Flowers brings tens of thousands of visitors to Toowoomba – Queensland’s Garden City – each spring. Last year, the Carnival added $22 million to the local economy, with attendance over 284,000. The event has received the Gold Award for Major Festivals and Events at both the Queensland Tourism Awards (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018) and Australian Tourism Awards (2016, 2017, 2018) and sits proudly in the Australian Tourism Awards Hall of Fame.

Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers will once again extend over all 30 days of September as a joyous program of petals, flavours, sounds and sights, headlined by over 190,000 blooms.

Chair of the Toowoomba Regional Council Environment and Community Services Committee Cr James O’Shea said the continued expansion of the 73 year-old event proved to have extraordinary financial and social benefits for the community. “Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers is a significant economic performer for the Region,” Cr O’Shea said.

“Once again, our incredible event will take place over 30 petal-filled days, to allow for greater visitation, business connections and community engagement. Taking centre stage, as they should, will be flowers and local flavours, as the event continues to bloom into a truly Region-wide experience for both locals and visitors. We look forward to welcoming visitors from all over Australia!”

The founder of this iconic showcase, Essex McEwen Tait has this year been immortalised with a bronze bust in the city’s Carnival Lane, sculpted by Queensland artist Mela Cooke.

Tait was a Toowoomba hardware store owner and WWII navigator and pilot. He came up with the concept of a spring flower festival to stimulate the local economy which had suffered the hardships of war.

Tait himself knew much about the horrors an hardships of conflict. He flew tours over Nazi-occupied Europe, North Africa and the Mediterranean. Some of his last flights were to evacuate Diggers from notorious prison of war camps and bring them home to Australia. Some of these evacuees died in his arms.

Because of his wartime experiences, he wanted to nurture a sense of recovery – both financial and social – to the region. So, he encouraged the Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the ‘Garden City’ with a Spring festival. And so the carnival was launched in 1949 and grew into an iconic Queensland event.

In 1950 a street procession, stretching almost five kilometres was led by a bullock team and attracted a 50,000 strong crowd, it was a resounding success, and has continued ever since.