STYLE NOTE

Break out the cute cocktail dresses and festive hats, because it’s finally time for spring, baby! The Toowoomba region has (again) battled through a particularly feisty winter this year, so are rightfully deserving of the warmer days, bright flowers, and buzzing bees springtime Queensland brings.

This also means it’s time for The Chronicle Garden Competition and the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers to dazzle us with perfectly manicured gardens, a kaleidoscope of flowers, an abundance of food and wine, and fantastic entertainment.

During this time of revelry, spare a thought for the farmers and gardeners who’ve had to work incredibly hard to give us the food and flowers that make these celebrations possible.

They’ve had to battle a crippling drought that, so far, has shown no signs of breaking.

But, while we continue to hold out hope for rain, we’re grateful for the new season and look forward to all it promises to bring.

In this month’s Style, we’ve had a chat with London Heir, a local artist who caught our ear with her call to Hit 100.7 FM

(page 8) and local man Jeff Black, an avid collector of Beatles memorabilia (page 6).

We also talked with racing car driver Alexandra Whitley about all things motor sport (page 24) and wished all fathers a belated, but happy, Fathers Day (page 36).

Make sure you grab tickets to the various dinners, tours and shows on during the Carnival of Flowers and get out to the city’s gardens — both public and private — to take in the glory of springtime in true Aussie style. ‘Til next time, the Style team