Plans bloom for festival

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 8

Plans bloom for festival

Christchurch people may receive flowers from American tourists on Friday during the first day of the Floral Festival. Several Americans interested in “getting the feel of the city” had telephoned the floral festival committee offering to give away some of the 50,000 blooms that would be distributed during “Wear a Flower” day, said the secretary of the committee, Ms Jeanette Nolan.

The committee had accepted the Americans’ help, as well as an offer from students at the University of Canterbury, who will distribute flowers on campus to mark the beginning of Orientation Week at the university.

Most of the blooms, which were picked last week at nurseries run by the Christchurch City Council and the Waimairi District Council, are being stored in Colombo Street

Women from various garden clubs in Christchurch had done an "amazing job” making floral buttonholes for Friday, said Ms Nolan. The garden club members would also give away flowers at city and suburban malls, and in Cathedral Square during the day.

The festival will formally open with a floral float parade on Saturday at 2 p.m. More than 40 floats will take part. They ‘ will assemble at

North Hagley Ark by the Armagh Street Iridge, before proceedig along Rolleston Aveue and Worcester Stredto Cathedral Square, from the Square the parade will travel north ajpng Colombo Strei before

turning west into Armagh Street to return to the park. The winning floats will be on display at Addington Raceway later in the day. During the festival week people will be able to take bus tours of prizewinning Christchurch gardens and streets. Free bus trips will also be offered for a “Suburban Mall Crawl” on Wednesday, March 4.

A “battle of the flowers” and floral procession will be held in the city on Saturday, March 7.

A diary of events will be printed in “The Press” throughout the festival, beginning on Friday.