Grand Central Floral Parade: Thousands line streets of Toowoomba to take part in annual street parade
An estimated 60,000 people lined the streets of Toowoomba to take in the sights and sounds of the Grand Central Floral Parade that saw community groups, businesses and bands decked out in their blooming best. See all the action here.
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The highly-anticipated Grand Central Floral Parade failed to disappoint the thousands who packed Toowoomba’s streets on Saturday to take in one of the highlights of the 73rd Carnival of Flowers.
A total of 20 community floats, 19 marching and walking groups, nine corporate, four multicultural celebrations, three creative visuals and two visiting float entrants featured as part of the parade, with eight bands also participating showcasing a variety of music from pipes to jazz making this one of the biggest events in recent years.
Toowoomba Regional Council Environment and Community Committee chair councillor James O’Shea said an estimated 60,000 people were in the city on Saturday to watch the spectacle.
“There were more floats engaged in the parade this year which is really good to see as the idea is to showcase the variety of community groups across Toowoomba,” he said.
“We saw a number of first time entrants as well as a number that had been involved for many years, and it’s an event that caters for everyone.”
While it was too early to tell the economic impact the Carnival of Flowers would have on Toowoomba, Mr O’Shea said with similar crowd numbers to last year the benefit could be close to the 2021 figure of $22 million.
“Last year was the first year with eased Covid restrictions but borders were still closed so we had people spend money locally but with few visitors, especially from interstate,” he said.
“This year with the world returning to a bit more normality we had a lot more visitors but there have been some cost of living pressures which does have an impact, which is why it’s important to have free events like the parade and the gardens so everyone can take part in the carnival.
“Having an event like this in school holidays attracts a lot of people to the area and naturally that benefit will be seen by a lot of businesses. (Carnival of Flowers) is an incredible event in terms of economic benefit to the region.”
Phat Burgers owner Alan Wynn said this year was the second year he opened for breakfast, and Saturday was a particularly busy day.
“Last year people scattered after the parade but this year we got a real good rush at 11am and another rush at 12pm,” he said.
“The trEATS initiative was great by council, I rate that highly. I don’t know if it was the biggest crowd for the parade of all time we still did all right and I’d hate to see it go.”
Embracing this year’s theme of Reflect, Connect and Sparkle, Oak Tree Retirement Village’s float featured a recreation of their namesake’s tree, with the leaves made from handprint cutouts of their residents from across their 31 villages around Australia.
“From that great things have happened, we’ve had residents that are now writing to each other and become friends and they’re not even in the same city,” Toowoomba’s Oak Tree Retirement Village manager Sarah Waters said.
“All the flowers we sold had words of wisdom from our residents to connect with the wider community.”
Ms Waters said many residents had long been spectators of the parade, but were first-time participants this year.
Among those involved in putting the float together was resident Stenna Jackson, who started living at Oak Tree about 12 months ago after moving from Coffs Harbour in NSW to Toowoomba in her retirement.
“It was absolutely fabulous to see the community together, there’s not many street parades like this any more so to be a part of something special means a lot,” she said.
Taking out the parade’s grand prize was the Darling Downs Scouts entry that featured members rappelling and canoeing on top of the float.
Drayton Scouts member Regan Hohn, who helped put together this year’s float, said the two weeks expanding and improving on last year’s design paid dividends.
“We realised it was lacking a lot of colour so we threw all the colours on it,” he said.
“It’s still sinking in, being named grand champion, I think we’re all in shock.”
Toowoomba Regional Council Mayor Paul Antonio said the parade was an “iconic celebration” of the Carnival of Flowers.
“Our floral parade is just part of those wonderful, rich traditions that we have in Toowoomba,” he said.
“One of the amazing sights each year is to see the thousands of people lining the city streets, they’re enjoying the colour and the spectacle of our famous Grand Central Floral Parade and it’s something we’re intensely proud of.”
Grand Central Floral Parade gallery
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