Manchester’s annual King Street Festival returns this summer (Saturday 2 – Sunday 3 June 2018) celebrating the past, present and future of Manchester’s iconic retail destination with a mix of live music, alfresco dining, craft ale and prosecco bars, historical tours and VIP retail experiences. And this year, for the first time, the festival is bringing back the prestigious Manchester Flower Show following a 15 year hiatus.

The Manchester Flower Show was an annual fixture in Platt Fields Park dating back to the 1950s and ran until 2003. In its heyday, it was a major display of ‘town and country together’, exhibiting the best of fruit and vegetable produce, horticultural expertise and inventions, flowers of every sort, livestock from horses, cats and dogs to guinea pigs and white mice, fashion items, vehicles and machinery, nuts, sweets and trinkets.

To add to the eclectic mix, there was horse-jumping, vintage car and motorbike displays and the latest fire service and police vehicles were on display. The crowds were serenaded and entertained by brass bands, dancers, singers, acrobats and even The Red Arrows. The show brought communities together from across Greater Manchester and the wider region.

Manchester’s Business Improvement District, Manchester BID, which represents more than 400 city centre businesses and is behind the King Street Festival, is now appealing to professional and amateur gardeners, florists and growers to help bring back the Manchester Flower Show and turn King Street into a floral paradise over the June weekend.

There are three categories available to enter: Pocket Garden, Green Takeover and Table Display, alongside a chance to win the overall Best in Show.

Entry is free and submissions can range from pocket gardens designed to fit neatly into one of King Street’s parking bays, green installations for phone boxes, windows or street furniture, hanging baskets for lamp posts or  cut-flowers, fruit, veg, bonsai or cacti. All entries will receive a coveted Manchester Flower Show rosette and awards will go to Best in Category, before an overall Best in Show is crowned in floral glory.

A Garden Market for purveyors of garden wares and outdoor accessories will also be taking place during the festival.

For more information and to find out how to take part click here or email gary.williams@cityco.com.

For more about The King Street Festival, follow @kingstfestival on Twitter.