Auckland Flower Show 2008 venue decided

Auckland Flower Show organisers have chosen Alexandra Park as the ideal venue for the event this spring after working on the choice of site for weeks.

“It’s a stunning venue that is very picturesque and surrounded by Cornwall Park’s magnificent green fields. It is also very central, easy to access from anywhere in Auckland and close to the motorway, via a very direct short route, for those coming from outside the city,” Paul McLuckie, of Auckland Flower Show Ltd, said today.
“Alexandra Park is also one of Auckland’s premier event venues and very well set up with excellent buildings and superstructure for both exhibitors and visitors, including licensed cafes, function rooms, well-appointed toilets, plenty of flat all-weather pathing and tarsealed carparking on site.”

Mr McLuckie says it is also fitting for the flower show to be staged just 2.1km from Ellerslie Racecourse, where Auckland’s first flower show, the Ellerslie Flower Show was held in 1994.

That show later moved to the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens in Manurewa, where for the past five years it has attracted over 60,000 visitors each year. Shortly after last year’s event, its owners sold it to Christchurch City Council, which now plans to stage it in Christchurch in late summer.

This left a vacuum in Auckland and the potential loss every year of an estimated $14 million in Auckland and Manukau cities, based on figures from an economic impact report commissioned by Manukau on the 2005 Ellerslie Flower Show.

Then before last year’s end, Mr McLuckie and some other experienced big event organisers stepped in, formed the Auckland Flower Show Ltd and started work. After consultation with the gardening industry, they have decided to stick with the mid-late November time that Ellerslie Flower Show had always been staged.

Mr McLuckie says with its November 20-23 date and Alexandra Park as the venue and the very strong exhibitor interest already registered - from both exhibitors at last year’s Ellerslie Flower Show and others – the first Auckland Flower Show is all set to be “as good and probably better” than Ellerslie.

Alexandra Park CEO Graeme Running, said today: “We are delighted to be the home of the new Auckland Flower Show. In November, the Alexandra Park grounds will be transformed into a showcase of the best of New Zealand horticulture, floral and landscape design and construction and we will be working closely with organisers to ensure a truly memorable occasion for all visitors.” 

Meanwhile, Mr McLuckie invites those interested in exhibiting or attending the 2008 Auckland Flower Show to visit the show website (www.theflowershow.co.nz). Those registering there will each be offered a $10 discount on up to two tickets when they go on sale closer to the event.

Background to Auckland's flower shows:

The Auckland Flower Show is an annual flower and garden show that will be held in Auckland every November.

Previously, the Ellerslie Flower Show was held at the same time in Auckland every year from 1994 to 2007, except 1997.

The first Ellerslie show was held in the Auckland suburb of Ellerslie at the Ellerslie Racecourse by The Rotary Club of Auckland, which set out to establish a unique fundraiser to raise money for local charities, using the famous Chelsea Flower Show in England as a model. By 2007, it had distributed a total of $700,000 for charity.

In 1998, the Ellerslie Flower Show moved to the Auckland Botanical Gardens, Manurewa, South Auckland, then in 2004 Rotary sold the rights to the show to a private company, which in turn sold the name, Ellerslie Flower Show, and the use of its services to the Christchurch City Council.

On the 2nd December 2007 Auckland Flower Show Ltd announced that they will be continuing the tradition of the annual flower shows in Auckland with the Auckland Flower Show 2008, and are now pleased to confirm the great venue and the dates.