Champion gardeners give late parade start a thumbs up
GARDEN competition entrant Jeff Aitchison believes the later start to this year’s Grand Central Floral Parade has led to an increase in visitors to his garden.
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CHRONICLE garden competition entrant Jeff Aitchison believes the later start to this year's Grand Central Floral Parade has led to an increase in visitors to his award-winning garden.
Mr Aitchison believes the 3pm start gave Carnival of Flowers visitors the chance to pack more into their Saturday schedule.
"In previous years there had been a lot of visitors up to 11.30am on the carnival Saturdays but numbers usually fell away while the parade was on and the afternoons had been relatively quiet," he said.
"This year the numbers were significantly up through the middle of the day and towards 3pm, including many people from Brisbane and beyond.
"Our neighbour, Cheryl Ganzer, estimated numbers to be up 100% on recent years."
In previous years, the floral parade had started at midday.
This year, however, the parade was trialled for the first time to start at 3pm.
"Feedback received so far has strongly supported the 3pm start time," Cr Geoff McDonald said.
"Visitors from outside the region have commented on their ability to see more gardens in parks and private gardens prior to the commencement of the parade.
"Many city retailers have reported that the change of parade time has enabled patrons to spend more time shopping.
"Many patrons appreciated the additional shade which was provided along Ruthven St due to the later start time.
"While it is always difficult to estimate just how many people line the streets to watch the parade, it is significant to note that many who have been participating for a number of years believed that 2013 drew a record crowd."
Originally published as Champion gardeners give late parade start a thumbs up
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