Toowoomba council to sponsor Chronicle Garden Competition for $54,000 in first event run by Toowoomba Hospital Foundation

Toowoomba’s beloved Chronicle Garden Competition has received a welcomed boost from the council, which has bumped up its sponsorship.

The Toowoomba Regional Council has bumped up its sponsorship of the legendary Chronicle Garden Competition in its first year not being run by the city’s daily newspaper.

Councillors voted 10-1 at Wednesday’s committee meetings to endorse a $54,000 package including cash and in-kind support towards the competition, which every year sees the region’s beautiful home gardens opened to the public during September and October.

The agreement is a boost from the $50,000 the council approved for last year’s event.

The 2025 edition will be the competition’s first outing under the stewardship of the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation, which took over from The Chronicle to oversee the event’s future.

The competition remains with The Chronicle’s naming rights.

The new sponsorship package includes advertising for the competition in official programs, support with tourism bus management and traffic management arrangements.

The Chronicle Garden Competition 2024 City Grand Champion Tiffany Wicks Thursday, September 19, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Councillors Carol Taylor and James O’Shea pushed for the sponsorship package to include the return of popular garden liaison officer Mike Wells, as well as funding for the judges of the competition, at an extra cost of $23,000.

Both items had been recommended against by the council’s assessment panel, arguing the THF had the capacity to find sponsors for them.

“I can assure you I’ve been involved in my role through Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers as a member of council without Mike Wells and I’ve been a member with Mike Wells and I can tell you it is a massive difference,” Mr O’Shea said.

The Chronicle general manager Erika Brayshaw and Mike Wells, garden liaison. Picture: Nev Madsen.

“The respect (gardeners have for) that gentleman and the ability that he has to be able to liaise with the gardeners (is significant) – because I can tell you now there’s no point in them ringing me asking what they should plant.”

Ms Taylor welcomed the transfer to the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation, calling the Chronicle Garden Competition the “soul of the Carnival of Flowers”.

“The Chronicle Garden Competition … is most loved and most treasured and is the thing that actually started our wonderful Carnival of Flowers off,” she said.

“It’s most beloved by our community and by our visitors and we need to really, in some way, make sure that that goes forward.

“Our gardeners are the soul of our Carnival of Flowers going forward and we need to protect this competition.”

Councillor Carol Taylor. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Councillor Bill Cahill, who was the only dissenting vote, said he supported the competition but believed the move to the THF had presented an opportunity for the event to run more autonomously.

“Let me be explicitly clear, I am not against garden competition,” he said during debate.

“What I am in support of is the officer’s recommendation as per the report, for a very good reason that one of the officers cited earlier on in the discussion, and that is to afford the hospital foundation a degree of autonomy.

“Let this organisation take it to the next level — they’ve formed a partnership with The Chronicle so let them go for it.”

Outgoing Carnival of Flowers co-ordinator Kate Scott paid tribute to The Chronicle, particularly general manager Erika Brayshaw, for ensuring the competition survived the tumultuous pandemic years.

“I just want to say I know that The Chronicle through Erika’s leadership have held on very tightly to this event and definitely made sure it has happened in the last five years,” she said.

“She has been a very staunch supporter to make sure that this event stays in Toowoomba.

“I believe that the transfer over to the hospital foundation can only be good things from what we’ve seen so far.”

Originally published as Toowoomba council to sponsor Chronicle Garden Competition for $54,000 in first event run by Toowoomba Hospital Foundation