Flower pulling power

More than 6000 people flocked to the Nannup Flower and Garden Festival at the weekend, with ticketed event sales trebling last year’s figures.
The festival boosted the town’s economy, with stores recording high sales and accommodation almost fully booked out.

Festival coordinator Jo O’Dea said she was pleased with the way the event had turned out.
“I have spoken with a number of businesses and shops and they have all said they were hammered with customers every day of the event,” she said.
“The market stalls we had set up for the event were also hammered with people, especially on the Saturday.”

Taste of Nannup co-owner Heather Walford said the business had a record number of customers on Saturday.
“We have been in town for five years and Saturday was our busiest day ever with 3500 people through the door,” she said.
“The festival happens at a time of year that is otherwise very quiet so it is always a great boost for us, economically and spiritually.”

One of many factors for the festival’s success was the variety of special guests who hosted some of the events.
Gardening Australia host and Logie award winner Costa Georgiadis was one of these guests who hosted events for adults and children across the course of the festival.
He said he had enjoyed being out in the rain for the festival, as many other places he had been to were experiencing drought.

“You do want the event to have good weather when you are organising it, but gardeners are usually cool with rain and everyone seems happy to be here,” he said.
“I love the fact there are so many experienced and passionate locals here – that passion is the main reason I love this festival.”
Georgiadis said the fact the festival had been running for 23 years showed it was something the community valued.

“These events live and breathe off involvement and just helping with one detail or on one day all helps,” he said.
Mrs O’Dea said the festival was pulled together by people who were passionate about their town, gardening and sustainability.
“The community has really come together to pull this event off,” she said.

“We have had some horrid weather but despite this we still had so many people come along and enjoy the festival.”
Nannup Garden Village committee chairwoman Maggie Longmore said the council had planted about 13,500 tulips around town to match the theme of the event.
“We get a lot of people coming through town both before and after the event because these tulips last a lot longer than the span of the festival,” she said.

“There are 2000 planted at the town hall alone so if anyone did miss out on the festival they can still come along and have a look at all the tulips, they should last for another three to four weeks.”

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