South Africa’s Free State Province will host the annual Free State Madeira Flower Festival on December 7 and 8, in the town of Parys.
The festival is a joint venture between the Free State Government and Madeira, and is hosted by the Free State Gambling, Liquor and Tourism Authority. It is a visually stunning event, with hundreds of thousands of flowers, floral floats, choreographed performers, and giant flower puppets performing around the demarcated flower precinct.
A kilometre-long floral procession with Big Five Route-inspired floral floats – created with over 200 000 flowers from local flower farmers – along with 500 performers, will mark the second time that South Africa has seen a fully-fledged flower parade take to the streets. In addition to these, in celebration of the lives of the iconic Nelson Mandela and Albertina Sisulu, Madeiran flower artists will be creating breath-taking flower carpets portraying the two beloved icons.
The two-day festival is aimed at stimulating the local flower industry and raising its international profile, and offers a variety of activities including a golf day; forums to discuss ideas on flower farming and encourage flower trading; a precinct that includes lifestyle exhibition platform, flower carpets exhibition, entertainment arena and VIP arena; along with the flower parade.
