Festival organisers launch open call-out for budding gardeners and professionals to take part in a festival of icons as The Manchester Flower Festival returns this May
Manchester’s biggest summer event, The Manchester Flower Festival, is set to return this May, and festival organisers are on the hunt for garden designers, florists, landscapers, businesses, charities, community groups and schools across the region to help transform the city into a floral spectacle.
Now in its seventh year, The Manchester Flower Festival is a fabulous floral celebration, featuring a floral display and garden trail across the city centre. Attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors into the city, the festival brings fun and floral frivolity to its streets and features a cocktail trail, live music, floral workshops, arts and crafts markets and family entertainment.
Celebrated as Manchester’s most Instagrammable event of the year and taking place across the late May Bank Holiday weekend, this year’s festival, organised annually by Manchester City Centre Business Improvement District, will celebrate ICONS, inspired by last year’s showstopping installations inspired by Hilda Ogden, Tony Wilson and Emmeline Pankhurst. The theme is open to interpretation and participants are encouraged to create ‘iconic’ displays and pop-up gardens, showcasing anything from Manchester-born icons, music icons, iconic buildings, or someone they hold personally as an icon in their life.
The Manchester Flower Festival offers the chance for contributing gardeners and florists to showcase their talent, while helping to create a unique, floriated experience across the city.
Opportunities at this year’s festival include:
Show Gardens – Large scale gardens and displays to headline this year’s festival created by local gardeners, landscapers, garden groups and brands in locations across the city’s main shopping district. Opportunities are also available for brands or companies looking to sponsor a garden.
Individual or amateur gardeners can enter the new Ginnel Garden category that challenges entrants to create a mini garden in a 6ft x 6ft x 4ft backyard style small space.
Floristry Displays – Florists can showcase their skills with beautiful displays in The Manchester Flower Festival Floral Marquee.
Festival Market – Featuring everything from plants, produce, garden decor, street food and art,
local traders can sign up to sell their wares at the Festival’s Market.
Sponsorship – New for 2024, festival organisers have set up a community garden fund, where companies are encouraged to make a donation, enabling underfunded community garden groups to take part in this year’s festival. All donations will fund the garden displays with staff time, equipment, and plants, allowing them to showcase their talents in Manchester City Centre’s biggest floral event. Past community groups to attend the event have included Blossom MCR, Ardwick Climate Action, Manchester Urban Diggers and Groundwork. There is also the opportunity to headline sponsor the event or showcase your brand in one of the event’s commercial spaces.
Local businesses in the city centre are also being encouraged to show their support for the festival by creating window, building or in-store displays, and host dedicated events and food and drinks specials, including food pop-ups, outdoor bars, or participation in the festival’s cocktail trail. Festival organisers are also seeking volunteers to help at this year’s event where they can gain valuable experience and enjoy being part of the team at one of the city’s annual flagship events.
For more information and expressions of interest in The Manchester Flower Festival or to find out how you can volunteer, please contact events@cityco.com.
