Colourful bouquet of flowers, art

Redcliffe Floral and Art Festival will be back to its blooming best this week, when it returns after a forced hiatus in 2020.

Coordinator Liz Peters said last year’s event was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions and she was looking forward to welcoming visitors to St Peter the Fisherman Church at Clontarf on June 18, 19 and 20.

“This year we are expanding the festival to a larger outside area, where we have demonstrating experts who are going to teach, talk and explain how to improve your gardening techniques, look after and create bonsai trees, how to get your orchids to bloom and how to handle prickly cactus,” Liz says.

“There will also be a large craft stall and demonstrating artists will cover acrylics, pastels and scratch boarding, as well as watercolours.”

This year’s festival theme is ‘A Floral Library – Fairytales, Fantasy, Fiction and Fact’.

“Imagine the layout of a library with all its sections and literary adventures - this is what you will enjoy with artistic and floral flair,” she says.

“Children’s literature will celebrate timeless classics, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, all about teddies, The Wizard of Oz and many more fairy and fantasy tales, such as Cinderella and The Ugly Duckling.”

There will also be children’s craft activities, so they can bring their imaginations to life.

“Whilst travel has been limited over the past year, not so in the ‘Floral Library’, where you will travel to Japan to enjoy bonsai and ikebana, Holland in tulip time, England’s regal roses and eight other beautiful countries represented in flower and art,” Liz says.

“Be bamboozled by the clues left at the crime scene, feel the love in the romance section, lift off into space with science fiction, along with all the other displays and installations, too numerous to mention.”

So much to see and do

Gardeners can purchase from an array of plants and potted colour, watch and chat to Redcliffe Art Society members skilled in water colour, acrylics, pastels and scratchboard and relax either on the deck or in our grounds while enjoying a Devonshire tea and listening to live music.

There will also be craft and card stalls, and raffles. Try your luck with six tickets for $5, and you can choose your prize from those on display.

Redcliffe Floral and Art Festival is a free community event, sponsored by Redcliffe Art Society and supported by Redcliffe Pottery Group, Redcliffe Garden Centre, Toys Mechanical and Muffler, Redcliffe Floral Art Group, Dugong Jewellery Designs and other community groups.

It is a COVID-safe event with approved plans. Disability access and parking is available from the 13 Hill Pde entrance.

Search Redcliffe Floral and Art Festival on Facebook.

EVENT DETAILS

What: Redcliffe Floral and Art Festival brings flowers, plants, books and art together

Where: St Peter the Fisherman Church, 13 Lucinda St, Clontarf

When: Friday, June 18 and Saturday, June 19 from 10am-4pm, and Sunday, June 20 from 11am-4pm

Admission: Free entry but donations are welcome

Highlights:

Friday – Devonshire tea, bonsai and orchid displays, wine tasting, pottery, plants, craft, cards, jewellery stalls, artists demonstrating their skills, rock’n’roll band Bits and Pieces, Joan Wilkie on piano and Bruce Scamells on harmonica.

Saturday - Devonshire tea, bonsai and orchid displays, orchid potting demonstrations and stall, pottery, plants, craft, cacti, cards, jewellery stalls, artists demonstrating their skills, rock’n’roll band Bits and Pieces Band, Bruce Scamells on harmonica.

Sunday - Devonshire teas, bonsai and orchid displays, pottery, plants, craft, cacti, cards, jewellery stalls, artists demonstrating their skills, Peter’s Rock Band, Bruce Scamells on harmonica, a string quartet, Collins Organ, and sell-off of plants and flowers at 4pm.