The Manchester Flower Festival is one of the city’s annual, flagship events. Taking place across the late May Bank Holiday weekend, the festival of flowers transforms the city centre with themed decorations and green installations alongside live music, entertainment, alfresco food and drink, talks, demonstrations, processions and workshops.
Now in its 7th year, the urban festival attracts hundreds of thousands of additional visitors to the city centre and launches the summer event season in the city.
The event is supported by a multi-channel marketing and PR campaign, including outdoor media, online digital advertising, a dedicated event portal on the city’s tourism website (VisitManchester.com), social media, and local, regional and national press.
BRAND & MARKETING TOOLKIT FOR PARTICIPANTS
2024 Event: 24th – 27th May Bank Holiday
Festival Zone: Exchange Square, New Cathedral Street, St Ann’s Square, King Street, Market Street
- ‘Manchester Icons in Flowers’: Floral Displays and Garden Trail
- Floral Marquee
- Green installations, displays and gardens from top brands, gardeners, charities, community groups and floristry talent
- Floral street art and installations
- Al fresco dining, street food and outdoor bars
- Live music and entertainment
- Talks, demonstrations and workshops
- Flower, art and craft market
- Family Play Zone and Sensory Gardens
City Wide Fringe: Installations across the city centre
- Floral displays from city businesses, hotels, neighbourhoods and cultural venues
- Explore Manchester’s green spaces with a specially commissioned trail and map
- Workshops, events, experiences and exhibitions
- Citywide street art and dressing
2023 Headlines
Contributors and Sponsors
National Trust, The RHS, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Grey Goose, M&S, Vimto, Lexus, Mercedes, Lush, Kuoni, FROG Flowers, Flowers from the Farm, Ardwick Climate Action, The Bridgewater Hall, Spinningfields, The Cloud Gardener, Science and Industry Museum, Royal Exchange, In Our Nature, Blossom MCR, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, CBRE, Plant NOMA, Treehouse Hotel, Sow the City +++
Footfall Stats
- 100,000 additional visitors to the city centre v the 2022 Flower Festival
- Footfall +24% v 2022 Flower Festival
- Footfall +44% v same weekend in May 2022
- Footfall on Sunday 28th May doubled v Sunday of the 2022 Flower Festival
Digital Stats
- +115,000 views on mcrflowerfest.com
- +1.2 million paid digital impressions across Facebook, Instagram and Google
- +540,000 organic social media reach
Press Coverage
- £502,000 of press coverage (AVE) across 121 titles, including BBC North West Tonight, Yorkshire Evening Post, BBC Radio Manchester, Manchester Evening News, Manchester’s Finest, The Manc, Cheshire Life, Business Desk
- Success featured as Place North West’s ‘Thing of the Week’
Economic Impact
The 2023 festival brought an additional £4.6 million into the city v 2022 event [Based on 100k additional visitors]
