Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers expected to break attendance record in 75th year after big final weekend

Toowoomba’s most famous event looks set to break last year’s attendance record, after a bumper four-week program drew hundreds of thousands of visitors to the region.

Carnival Closes BP Factbox

Toowoomba’s premier tourism event is on track to break its attendance record, after hundreds of thousands of people descended on the Garden City over the past month for the Carnival of Flowers.

Brisbane visitors Shahrima Tasnin and daughter Sabirah Tasneem in Queens Park for the last day of the Carnival of Flowers, Monday, October 7, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

The Toowoomba Regional Council said the 75th edition of the award-winning festival should improve on the 417,000 people who came in 2023, signalling a cash injection into the economy worth more than $25m.

There were higher attendance figures at the Festival of Food and Wine on September 13-15, while officials noted larger crowds at the floral parade on September 21.

Meanwhile, organisers for The Chronicle Garden Competition have reported an uptick in both entrants and visitors.

While official reporting on attendance figures and economic benefits won’t be revealed for a number of months, Toowoomba councillor and carnival spokesman James O’Shea said he was quietly confident the record would be broken.

“I don’t have any official counts, but I know Food and Wine was an increase on the crowd and the carnival parade was also slightly up from last year,” he said.

Candidate Councillor James O'Shea speaking at Toowoomba Decides Toowoomba Regional Council candidate forum at Toowoomba Turf Club, Thursday, March 7, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“There were 2500 people for Symphony Under The Stars, which was amazing to see.

“Last year we hit 417,000 people, and I reckon we’ll break it.”

Mr O’Shea said the strong performance not only vindicated the council’s decision to spread the major events over four weeks, but to also delay the festival by two weeks to capture the King’s Birthday long weekend.

“There are a few factors, one is the 75th anniversary, but also the dates as well make it interesting — it’s not just the whole of September, you start right on school holidays,” he said.

“That will be a big factor as well — those are enough reasons to suggest it’s a good move.”

Even on the event’s final weekend, Queens Park and Laurel Bank Park were filled with visitors exploring Toowoomba’s beautiful public gardens.

Brisbane visitors Prabhat (left) and Prathna Baagdas in Queens Park for the last day of the Carnival of Flowers, Monday, October 7, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Among those were Brisbane residents Pragbhat and Prathna Baagdas, who were visiting Toowoomba for the first time after hearinabout the Carnival of Flowers through friends.

“It’s beautiful — all the colours and different varieties of flowers,” Ms Baagdas said.

“I didn’t think we would see all different types of flowers in the one place.

“The flower arrangement and colour combinations and everything is just pretty, just wow!”

Mr O’Shea said he too had been stunned by the number of first-time visitors to Toowoomba that the 2024 edition had attracted.

“The numbers through the parks have been very big, I was on the information stand myself on Sunday and there were still lots of people,” he said.

“The coolest part (was meeting) the people who still came here to see the gardens — they were not here for an event, they just want to check out the gardens and parks.”

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.