The bulbs will still bloom in Commonwealth Park but Canberra’s traditional springtime events of Floriade and Nightfest have been cancelled due to continuing COVID outbreaks in the ACT and surrounding NSW.
The cancellation will cost the ACT economy tens of millions of dollars in lost tourism revenue, leaving the local hospitality and tourism sector reeling.
Floriade was due to begin on Saturday 11 September through to Sunday 10 October.
Speaking at today’s COVID-19 update media conference, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said that operating large-scale events in any capacity under the current circumstances “is just not safe”.
Although there will be bulbs in bloom in Commonwealth Park throughout spring, the ACT Government is discouraging large-scale gatherings at this time, Mr Barr said.
The status of the regional COVID-19 outbreak will be regularly considered by the ACT Chief Health Officer to determine the safe level of access to the site that will be available to the public later in spring.
Planter boxes and pots that were to feature in Commonwealth Park will be relocated throughout the city and suburbs.
The boxes will complement the 300,000 bulbs and annuals that have been planted by local schools, community groups and organisations across the ACT earlier in the year.
Last year, authorities made the call to cancel Floriade as a large-scale event early in the pandemic, on 1 April, before mass plantings of the one million bulbs and annuals ordered for the festival had started in Commonwealth Park.
The 2020 festival was renamed ‘Floriade: Reimagined‘ and the bulbs and seedlings were redistributed to community organisations that successfully applied for an allocation.
