Friday 23 – Monday 26 May 2025. FREE.
Celebrate the start of summer at The Manchester Flower Festival. With fabulous floral installations, outdoor dining and entertainment, everyone is in for a bloomin’ amazing long weekend in Manchester city centre.
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THE MANCHESTER FLOWER FESTIVAL 2025: TAKE PART
The Manchester Flower Festival is one of the city’s annual, flagship events. Taking place across 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 8th year, The Manchester Flower Festival attracts hundreds of thousands of additional visitors to the city centre and launches the summer event season in the city.
The event is a showcase for Manchester’s top gardening and floristry talents, charities and green projects, as well as offering a platform for local gardening groups, young gardeners and amateurs. Alongside the main Festival Zone, city neighbourhoods, businesses, shops, restaurants and cultural venues join-in the celebrations with floral decorations and green installations – making it one of the most unique flower and garden events in the UK (and the most Instagrammable!)
The event is supported by a multi-channel marketing and PR campaign, including high impact outdoor media, online digital advertising, dedicated event portal on the city’s tourism website – VisitManchester.com, social media coverage and local, regional and national press.
2024 HEADLINES
FOOTFALL
77,000 additional visitors to v previous weekend in May 2024 [Friday 24-Monday 27 May 2024 v Friday 17-Monday 20 May 2024]
DIGITAL STATS
+156,000 views to dedicated VisitManchester.com event portal
+ 9 million paid digital impressions across digital campaign (Facebook, Instagram, Google)
+530,000 organic reach across social media campaign (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok)
ADVERTISING
Digital screen advertising across city locations and main transport routes into the city
Metrolink tram network adverting across Greater Manchester
10K event maps / what’s on leaflets distributed
PRESS
171 pieces of media coverage across local, regional and national press campaign inc: BBC North West Tonight, BBC news online, BBC Radio Manchester, The Times, The Independent, iPaper, Woman’s Weekly, Yorkshire Evening Post, Manchester Evening News, Finest, The Manc +++ AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent): £1.77million
ECONOMIC IMPACT
£3.5m v previous weekend in May 2024 [Friday 24 – Monday 27 May 2024 v Friday 17 – Monday 20 May 2024
TAKE PART
2025 FESTIVAL THEME
Each year the event takes on a theme to inspire contributing garden designers, florists, street artists, garden groups and anyone taking part. The theme is there to inspire entries, but it is not mandatory. We do find visitors respond well to the annual themes that have previously included Flower Power, Queen’s Jubilee, Manchester in Flowers and Manchester Icons.
This year’s theme is: Manchester and Other Great Cities around the World
This is inspired by great work in previous years that celebrated cities such as New York, Las Vegas and our very own Manchester.
We open the category to interpretation. You could choose a city that is renowned for flowers such as Amsterdam’s colourful tulip fields, a famous landmark that symbolises a city such as the Statue of Liberty in New York, a city that’s famous for its art and culture such as Paris, or it could be city that you find personally exciting, or a place that has had a particular impression on you after an amazing trip.
There is no limit to how many cities you can choose to represent in your display.
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
- Florists who want to create floral displays at the event
- Professional garden designers and landscaping companies who want to create a garden in the city centre of Manchester
- Charities, community groups, garden groups, amateur individual gardeners
- Street artists who want to create floral art in the public realm
- Companies who want to create a garden or display at the event but need to be teamed up with a gardener or florist
- Companies who want to sponsor a community garden
- Manchester property managers, developers, businesses, collectives, individual business, cultural venues, bars and restaurants in the city who want to highlight their business or public realm by creating a floral display or green takeover
- Stall holders for our flower, plant, food & drink and art & craft market
- Brands who want to sponsor the event
- Brands who want to take advantage of commercial spaces at the event.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
- CREATE A SHOW GARDEN, MINI GARDEN OR FLORAL DISPLAY IN THE FESTIVAL ZONE
- CREATE A CITY CENTRE FRINGE FLORAL DISPLAY OUTSIDE OF THE FESTIVAL ZONE
- PUT ON AN EVENT, WORKSHOP OR SPECIAL EXPERIENCE
- MARKET STALL OPPORTUNITIES
1. CREATE A SHOW GARDEN, MINI GARDEN OR FLORAL DISPLAY IN THE FESTIVAL ZONE
ARE YOU…?
- A garden designer, florist, landscaping company, amateur or a community group who want to create something spectacular at the event
- A street artist
- A local business who want to create a floral display or green takeover at the event
- A business in the festival zone who wants to create a display on your own building.
Create a show garden that shows off exactly what you, your company or group can do as well as your message or brand. Gardens are typically 6m x 4m or create 1.8m x 1.8m display in our new mini “ginnel” garden category, which is perfect for the individual entry. Floral or green displays can vary in size and may want to use something as a basis e.g. a phone box, steps or statue in the city, wheelbarrow or archway. Florists can make a spectacle of cut or dry flowers in the protection of our floral marquee.
Transform your building, outdoor furniture or windowsills into a green oasis. We can connect you with florists who will be able to deliver and come up with some creative ideas.
NEXT STEP
- Contact us to begin a discussion as soon as possible
- Final deadline for enquiries: Monday 3rd March
- There is then 1 month to confirm entry details. Final deadline: Monday 7th April
2. CREATE A CITY CENTRE FRINGE FLORAL DISPLAY OUTSIDE OF THE FESTIVAL ZONE
ARE YOU…?
- A Manchester company or group outside of the Festival Zone who wants to create a display in your own neighbourhood or in or on your own building?
We invite you to become part of a community dressing our city with flowers. If you have the capacity, then we encourage you to get involved in creating something special that will attract visitors to your part of town. A wonderful floral display, a weekend of events, a workshop, a film screening, a talk.
It is free to enter and don’t worry there won’t be judges coming around with clipboards, it’s all about being part of something in the city and making a display for visitor. We can help team businesses up with florists and gardeners.
NEXT STEP
- Contact us to begin a discussion as soon as possible
- Final deadline for enquiries: Monday 3rd March
- There is then 1 month to confirm entry details. Final deadline: Monday 7th April
3. PUT ON AN EVENT, WORKSHOP OR SPECIAL EXPERIENCE
ARE YOU…?
- A shop, cultural venue, bar, restaurant who wants to put on an event to support the festival and bring visitors into your business?
- A venue who has an existing experience or activity that is happening during the flower festival that they want to highlight?
- A florist or group who wants to put on a workshop or experience at the festival.
If you want to be part of the Festival but don’t think floral installations are for you, or you want to add something to get more attention to your company or group at the festival, you could put on an event that will help the festival to grow whilst benefitting from the exposure.
A wide range of businesses took part in previous years and organised workshops, talks, or floral themed events in their business or at the festival on the main stage or in the floral marquee. Events are listed on our website and promoted via festival channels.
The only requirement for an event is that is needs to be themed around flowers, plants, nature or sustainability.
4. MARKET STALL OPPORTUNITIES
ARE YOU…?
- A florist, plant shop, independent business or a trader who wants to sell your products and reach wider audiences at a prime city centre location
- A charity, non-profit organisation, gardening business who wants to showcase your products and promote your work
The main Marketplace will be on St Ann’s Square with other opportunities for stalls and pop-up stalls across the Festival Zone.
As part of the Manchester Flower Festival Marketplace, you will benefit from the increased footfall and media coverage that the event attracts.
NEXT STEP
- Contact us to begin a discussion as soon as possible. Please outline details of what you sell and we can discuss pitch fees, space, etc.
- Final deadline for enquiries: Monday 3rd March
- Final deadline: Monday 24th April
WHY BE PART OF THE FESTIVAL?
The Manchester Flower Festival is an urban remix of the traditional flower show. It uses the city’s streets as a canvas and presents a unique challenge to gardeners and florists.
The festival is loved by residents, workers and visitors, creates amazing PR for the city and participants and shows that cities can be greener and more sustainable. The event has a great legacy every year with many projects remaining in the city or finding their way to local community gardens or projects.
You are part of contributing to an event that is growing and making people see Manchester in a different way. It interrupts the city with flowers and greening projects every year.
Unlike traditional flower shows our event is on the hard standing pavement of the city. We use fountains, bus stops, telephone boxes and statues as our backdrop and base for displays. This also has the benefit of a shorter set-up and de-rig (days rather than weeks) and removes back-breaking work digging into green field sites at other events.
Our participants find that this is an opportunity to get their work, brand or product in front of thousands of event attendees and the public in Manchester City Centre. As well as meet a new type of clients – urban, young professionals and homeowners in suburban areas local to the city centre.
The event is a great shop window and is supported by a full-mix PR and marketing campaign that reaches local TV and national newspapers, ads on banners, Metrolink tram sites and advertising screens. The whole city is buzzing when the Manchester Flower Festival is in town.
Be part of it!
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU
Email events@cityco.com to enquire about taking part in the 2025 Manchester Flower Festival.
