SPRING IN YOUR STEP

It’s about this time every year that I start to feel excited about spring in Toowoomba. The weather is starting to warm up, we are surrounded by beautiful blooms and our city is a hive of activity and anticipation. Our region comes into its own from the start of September with a plethora of event opportunities none more relevant than the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers, a cultural party featuring a floral parade, local food and produce, regional wine, entertainment and all things spring. It is events like the Carnival of Flowers that are so important to drive tourism to our region. They take a huge amount of planning and require ongoing support from both the business and wider communities to continue to grow and benefit our economy. An event of this nature creates a ‘reason’ for people to travel to Toowoomba and the greater surrounds. In 2017, over 250,000 people attended the 10-day event, an amazing result that has taken over 60 years to build. However, we can’t just rely on Carnival to be the sole tourism focus; it is up to individuals to have the drive and passion to challenge the status quo and continue to develop new opportunities and new ‘reasons’ to promote visitation. I also challenge businesses and local councils to support these new initiatives as they very well could be the next ‘big event’ for the Darling Downs. Toowoomba Polo, Diner En Blanc, Hampton Festival and Easter Vintage Festival are all examples of events which have been started to compliment and further develop our event space. These opportunities are not without risk and it is a sad but true fact that if they aren’t well supported through attendance and sponsorship they won’t stay in our region. So, let’s give people some more ‘reasons’ to visit Toowoomba.