Time for some flower power

By Lachlan Ellis

A local flower show is up and running again for the first time since 2019, and there will be more than just flowers to see, with competitions and stalls galore.

The Bacchus Marsh Flower & Garden Show, like so many events, hasn’t run for three years thanks to the COVID pandemic, and the committee are eager to put on the best show yet this year.

Chair of the Bacchus Marsh Flower & Garden Show, Kathy Cairns, said the committee were delighted to be running the Show again after a long hiatus.

“We’re extremely excited. We’ve put out a lot of promotional material and we’re getting very positive feedback. Our social media is getting lots of hits, and we’ve got the schedules around town, and we’re having to fill them up on a regular basis,” Ms Cairns told the Moorabool News.

“People haven’t had any community events for a while now, so we’re looking forward to seeing people again. I think I’m most looking forward to the floral display…when you walk in the Hall, the smell is incredible, and the colours, plus the photography on stage, are all very bright and colourful.”

It will be an action-packed event – held over a combined 10 hours on Saturday 22 October (12 pm – 4 pm) and Sunday 23 October (9 am – 4 pm), the schedule includes a variety of competitions, including for the best roses, produce, jams/preserves and cakes, not to mention the stalls, children’s activities, raffle, and more.

Over $1,000 worth of prizes are being given away in the raffle, from a Husqvarna 115iL trimmer worth $495 for 1st prize, to $100 vouchers at Wilsons Mitre 10 Bacchus Marsh for 4th through to 8th.

The raffle prizes were kindly donated by Bacchus Marsh Farm Supplies, Bunnings Melton, the Bacchus Marsh Rotary Club, and Wilsons Mitre 10 Bacchus Marsh.

Admission to the Bacchus Marsh Flower & Garden Show is just $5 per person, with under 16s getting in for free.

For more information, and to view the schedule and entry forms for the Show’s many competitions, visit www.bmflowershow.org.

HOW IT ALL CAME TO BLOOM

The idea of a flower show in Bacchus Marsh was conceived by Joce Williams, who organised a one-day Horticulture Show in October 2014. The Horticulture Show served as a fundraiser for the Bacchus Marsh Aquatic Centre Consortium, which has since gone inactive with Moorabool Shire Council taking over the Aquatic Centre project.

After Joce became ill in 2015, a group of her friends decided the show must go on, expanding it to the two-day event which they have run ever since.

This year the Bacchus Marsh Flower & Garden Show has come under the umbrella of the Rotary Club of Bacchus Marsh, with a committee to decide where the profits will be allocated.