IMBY: Carnival of Flowers

We tend to hear a lot about the negative stuff going on in communities, the NIMBY - Not In My BackYard - stuff.  Not so much about the positive.  So I've decided to be contrary and share IMBY - In My BackYard - the good stuff, the positive things, going on in my neck of the woods.


***

This weekend signalled the start of our town's Carnival of Flowers.  A week-long celebration of spring - food, wine, entertainment and of course, flowers.  We aren't known as the garden city without reason - this town truly is a sight to see with it's tree-lined streets and gorgeous gardens in front of heritage houses, all in full bloom this time of year. 

Given that in the four years I've lived here and never been to the carnival nor seen the parade, this year I thought I'd best give it a crack.

On Saturday the festival officially kicked off with a parade down the main street.  

waiting....waiting....

There were cars and trailers and bikes and marching bands and people all dressed up in their finest with flowers being the mainstay, proudly supported by facepaint, bubbles and plenty of balloons. 

Nothing says country like a tractor!

There was music, lots of waving carnival queens and princesses, and plenty of tarmac art care of kids armed with chalk.  

The streets were lined with people and there wasn't a carpark to be found anywhere in the CBD for hours.  What a blast!

It's not a parade without a pipe band or four or five!

Because the carnival brings so many people to town (truly some people come from interstate just for the event) I thought I'd be clever and went and saw the garden displays early, before the crowds arrived.  Turns out I wasn't the only one with this line of thinking - there were certainly plenty of people doing the same thing!

Anyway, it was beautiful. 

I can't believe I waited so long to go along and see this.

I can't wait until the Carnival rolls around again next year!