Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers: Round Square Marketing to run two new events, Festival of Food and Wine future unclear

Two new events are coming to this year’s Carnival of Flowers — and they will be run by a city company. But the council has yet to shed light on the future of a beleaguered attraction:

A local marketing and event co-ordination firm will run two new attractions at this year’s Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, as the future of the Festival of Food and Wine remains a mystery.

Round Square Marketing revealed it had secured tenders from the Toowoomba Regional Council to organise a ticketed event on the first weekend of the TCOF as well as more family-friendly park installation involving pets.

The six-person firm, which is planning to recruit in the coming months to meet demand, has been involved in running major events like the It’s A Bloke Thing luncheons, the Mort and Co King of the Mountain Carnival and Diner en Blanc.

Round Square Marketing director Lauren Hope, general manager Annie Glover and project manager Sarah Todd are all smiles after being named the producers for two new Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers events.

While she remained tight-lipped on details or names, director Lauren Hope said the events would target different demographics while offering something new to the carnival line-up.

“There’ll be four floral weekends in September, the first event, the new one we’re doing, is going to be the opening of the festival,” she said.

“The first one will be more ‘wow’, it will be more spectacular, and it will be a ticketed event.

“Then there’ll be a special family event on the second weekend, which will also be for the furry members as a family as well.

“The two new events we’re doing, there’s still a big tourism push for them, so we will hope that people will travel for them as well as accommodating that local market.”

Ms Hope said neither event would be acting as a replacement for the Festival of Food and Wine, the future of which has been under a cloud after the council omitted it from a sponsorship prospectus earlier this year.

“All they have said to me is what they would have said, to you guys as well, is that it’s going to be a re-imagined festival for that flower, food and wine weekend,” she said.

“We’re just excited as a local supplier to have picked up the two new events that will be added into that carnival.

“It’s good to see it stay local because it hasn’t been local for a fair few years now and I felt we had the capabilities to go for (these new events).”

The Festival of Food and Wine looks set to be axed or reshaped, after carnival organisers described the marquee event as “predictable” and in need of a refresh as part of the review of the 2024 edition.

The February report, which painted a rosy outlook for the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers overall, expressed long-term concerns for the Festival of Food and Wine despite it attracting 17,400 people in 2024 (up from 13,900 in 2023).

The $91,000 loss the festival drove was worth just seven per cent of the $1.34m the council spent underwriting the entire carnival.

Toowoomba business owners expressed concerns about the potential loss of Food and Wine in its current form.

The extra events coincide with the council endorsing a new five-year strategic plan for the Carnival of Flowers, which was enacted last month.