Despite the adverse weather conditions during the two-day event, the Grahamstown Flower Festival was an unqualified success, according to convenor Sharon Richner.
“Grahamstown supported the town’s newest festival in large numbers and were joined by a good number of people from out of town,” said Richner.
Despite the adverse weather conditions during the two-day event, the Grahamstown Flower Festival was an unqualified success, according to convenor Sharon Richner.
“Grahamstown supported the town’s newest festival in large numbers and were joined by a good number of people from out of town,” said Richner.
The festival, held in the beautiful setting of the Makana Botanical Gardens at the foot of Gunfire Hill, saw a total of 946 tickets sold, 696 on the Saturday and 250 on the Sunday. While Grahamstown residents made up the bulk of the festival visitors, Richner said details taken at the gate showed that 40 visitors came from Port Elizabeth, 32 from Port Alfred and 28 from East London.
“We even had five visitors from overseas,” said Richner. The highlight of the flower festival each year is the flower competition and this year it boasted entries from 72 local gardeners, turning the Pam Golding Hall into a blaze of colour and fragrances.
The prizes and trophies were sponsored by local, regional and national companies. Well-known local rose grower, Vernon Marais, was the overall competition winner, while fellow rose grower, Sally Koen, was runner-up.
Richner was particularly upbeat about the attendance at the three talks, presented by landscape designers Diarmuid Gavin, from the UK and David Viljoen, from Pretoria. Viljoen’s two talks on the Saturday attracted a total of 200 garden enthusiasts, and Gavin’s talk on the Sunday pulled in 155 people. “The six workshops also proved popular, with a total attendance of 100,” she said.
“The garden stalls enjoyed brisk business, with local gardeners finally able to contemplate planting again now that the spring rains have arrived,” enthused Richner. Of the 26 stalls, 14 represented Grahamstown businesses, of which nine are regional and three national.
Run in conjunction with the flower festival was the “Gardens of Grahamstown” competition, and the winners, runners-up as well as other show gardens, a total of 18, were open to the public for viewing. Among the organisations that benefited from entry fees to these show gardens were Hospice, FAMSA, Eluxolweni Children’s Shelter, GADRA and Umthathi Training Project.
Musical entertainment at the flower festival was provided by the St Andrew’s College pipe band, the St Andrew’s Prep marimba band and the Kingswood College jazz band. Richner said, “The Kingswood band livened up the food court area just as the sun came out on Sunday afternoon!”
She continued, “As the gates finally closed mid-afternoon on Sunday, festival goers reluctantly started to wend their way home, many of them energised by a weekend of enjoying the beauty of nature, and all of them deeply thankful for the wonderful gift of rain.”
