Blooming Success for Blackburn Cathedral Flower Festival

Organisers of Blackburn Cathedral Flower Festival have been presented with an award for organising a landmark event which attracted thousands of people to the town centre.
Blackburn’s Business Improvement District have dedicated a ‘Be Surprised’ award to the organisers of the event after the iconic Cathedral blossomed into colour and activity for a major four-day flower festival between 23-26 June 2016.

People travelled from across the UK to see the magnificent space within Blackburn Cathedral transformed into a floral extravaganza with impressive flowers and giant sculptures.
As well as mechanics, imaginative lighting and suspended displays, the festival featured a special visit from Winner of the Great British Bake Off Nadiya Hussain.

The event, organised by volunteers from The Friends of Blackburn Cathedral, has been hailed as a success and has received rave reviews online.  Karen Brooke, one of the organisers of the festival, was presented with the award by the Business in Community Healthy High Streets Team, she said: “The Flower Festival is a culmination of more than two years of hard work. We are thrilled that so many people attended and the feedback has been 100 per cent positive. It has been a privilege to work with such a dedicated team of designers, volunteers and amazing sponsors without whom the event could not have taken place.”

A number of unique events were held at Blackburn Cathedral as part of the Flower Festival including an Exclusive Celebration Preview, a Black Tie Dinner and an evening of cocktails and jazz with New Orleans style band Tipitina.

Manager of the Blackburn Business Improvement District, Harriet Roberts, said: “The Be Surprised Awards are about celebrating excellence amongst the town’s business community. The organisers worked extremely hard to make this landmark event a success. The Be Surprised award is recognition for the event which was enjoyed in equal measure by visitors who travelled from across the country.”

Hilary Depledge visited Blackburn Cathedral Flower Festival from Stockport on Friday, 24th June, she said: “We just wanted to say how fantastic the flower festival was. It was well worth the visit from Stockport and we hope it was a great success. It’s one of the best festivals we have seen, the wow factor was certainly there.”

The event attracted support from a wide range of businesses and organisations including headline sponsors Barton Grange Garden Centre, Blackburn Business Improvement District, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Blackburn Market, BMI Healthcare, John Turner Construction, The Eric Wright Group, Westholme School, Visit Lancashire, High Level Maintenance, Cope Engineering, Booths and media partners, BBC Radio Lancashire and Square Cactus