With nothing but blue skies, soil, speakers and plants in sight all the right ingredients for a blockbuster 37th Queensland Garden Expo were in place at the weekend, with thousands of people flocking to Nambour Showgrounds for Australia’s largest sub-tropical gardening event.
The Expo has continued to be a massive drawcard for tourism on the Sunshine Coast for the last week of school holidays with 65 per cent of attendees arriving from outside of the region.
Event Manager Marion Beazley said while it was too early to tally exact ticket sales, that listening to feedback from visitors as well as exhibitors every indication was that the event was a huge success.
“The queues at the gates on Friday morning indicated the appetite for this event and with more people turning to gardening than ever before over the course of the pandemic, the demand for plants, information and all things gardening is at an absolute premium,” Ms Beazley said.
Those exhibiting at the Expo and presenting as part of Australia’s largest gardening speaker program could not have been happier with the turn out, as the event welcomed back crowd favourite Costa Georgiadis as well as ABC Gardening Australia’s Jerry Coleby-Williams, Claire Bickle, Sophie Thomson, Millie Ross and Phil Dudman.
“The Queensland Garden Expo is somewhat of a gardening reunion for our speakers and exhibitors as they all share a passion for gardening and love getting face-to-face with the public and the end-users of their products,” Ms Beazley said.
With tens of thousands of plants sold over the course of the weekend, combined with the high volume of tourists from out of town, the Expo provided a healthy injection into the local economy.
“The economic impact of this event is estimated to be more than $10 million so we were thrilled that the event was able to be back in full swing this year after Covid restrictions impacted the Expo last year and forced us to cancel the year before,” Ms Beazley said.
Also, a part of this year’s Queensland Garden Expo were the Horticultural Media Association Australia Laurel Awards, which were held at the Nambour Showground, Saturday evening.
This year, six Laurel Awards were presented, covering books, visual presentations, audio presentations and published articles, as well as two honour awards.
A handful of Expo speakers were recognised for their efforts in gardening media including Millie Ross who took home the Visual Laurel, Phil Dudman won the Article Laurel and Kate Wall named this year’s winner of the Anita Boucher Laurel.
Other winners included Trevor Nottle who claimed this year’s Gold Laurel, Chloe Thomson for the Audio Laurel and Daniel Austin winning the Book Laurel.
The Queensland Garden Expo is an annual event held every July. To find out more, please visit www.qldgardenexpo.com.au.
Media contact — Natalie Baker, Fresh PR & Marketing
P: 0438 827 766 E: natalie@freshprm.com.au
