Canada Blooms Cultivates Growing Interest in Garden Tourism

March 2008 – Toronto, ON – With a growing interest in garden tourism, for the first time this year’s Canada Blooms Festival will include travel features throughout the five-day Festival. Garden tourism enthusiasts will have an opportunity to experience award-win-ning Canadian and international gardens in the new garden travel section and take-in presentations about the gardens of the world from top experts on Garden Travel Day on Wednesday, March 12.

“For many of the garden-lovers who attend Canada Blooms each year, garden tourism is a new and inspiring form of travel,” says Gerry Ginsberg, General Manager, Canada Blooms. “This year, visitors to Canada Blooms will get a chance to preview some of Canada and the world’s premiere garden travel destinations through a variety of displays and presentations.”

Canada Blooms, Canada largest garden and flower festival, will be presented at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from March 12 to 16, 2008. Garden Travel features include:

* Visit the showcase for Communities in Bloom Presented by Tourism Ireland. A friendly competition to beautify public spaces, Communities in Bloom strives to improve the tidiness and visual appearance of Canada’s neighbourhoods, parks and streets with a focus on environmental awareness and preservation of heritage and culture. Five communities from Ontario will showcase their prize-winning gardens along with one international winner – the community of Westport, a picturesque Heritage Town in the West of Ireland. Ontario’s award-winning municipalities include: Town of Petrolia, Town of Carleton Place, City of Pickering, Town of Graven-hurst and City of Dryden.

* Tourism Ireland is also delighted to be joined by the wonderful partners below who can make a dream trip to Ireland a reality. Come and discover Ireland – the island of gardens.

• Ireland’s Shannon Region
• Hotels Federation
• The Brehon Hotel
• Shannon Heritage
• Ashford Castle
• Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau

* VIA Rail Garden Route – There’s no better way to travel than by taking a carefree train ride to the destination. This summer, garden-lovers can explore Canada by hopping on a train and following the VIA Rail Garden Route to 15 spectacular gardens from Victoria to Halifax, as well as 28 of Communities in Bloom’s ‘5-bloom’ (top award winning) towns and cities.

The VIA Rail Garden Route Lounge will showcase seven of the gardens on the route:

• Butchart Gardens. Victoria (Brentwood Bay), B.C.
• UBC Botanical Garden. Vancouver, British Columbia
• Windsor Riverfront Gardens. Windsor Ontario
• Royal Botanical Gardens. Burlington, Ontario
• Montreal Botanical Garden. Montreal, Quebec
• Reford Gardens. Grand-Métis, Quebec
• Kingsbrae Garden. St. Andrews, New Brunswick

At the VIA Rail booth in the Garden Route Lounge, visitors can also find out about the special Garden Route ticket offer, valid from June 15 to September 7, and enter a ballot to ‘Win a Trip for Two to the Garden of Your Choice’.

* People’s Garden Award – Guests of Canada Blooms can cast their vote for the People’s Garden Award presented by The NationalPost, Global Television and Newstalk 1010 CFRB, and enter to win the chance to jet off to discover the gardens of Ireland courtesy of Tourism Ireland and Air Canada. This trip for two includes two roundtrip air tickets from Toronto to Ireland provided by Air Canada, seven nights accommodation with daily Irish breakfast and eight day midsize manual car rental (excluding insurance). The grand prize winner to be announced on St. Patrick’s Day, Monday March 17th, on CFRB’s Bill Carroll Morning Show.

Garden Travel Day, Wednesday, March 12 – speaker schedule

About Canada Blooms
Now in its twelfth year, the Canada Blooms Festival was originally founded by Landscape Ontario and The Garden Club of Toronto to bring together the very best of the garden industry and community. Supported by a committed group of partners, sponsors and vol-unteers, the five-day Festival is Canada’s largest flower and garden festival. Canada Blooms is a not-for-profit organization that gives back to the community throughout the year by funding community garden projects around Ontario and providing horticulture expertise, education and resources. Proceeds from the 2008 Canada Blooms Festival will support the new Woodland Walk Entrance Garden at the Toronto Botanical Garden. For more information, visit www.canadablooms.comAbout Canada BloomsNow in its twelfth year, the Canada Blooms Festival was originally founded by Landscape Ontario and The Garden Club of Toronto to bring together the very best of the garden industry and community. Supported by a committed group of partners, sponsors and vol-unteers, the five-day Festival is Canada’s largest flower and garden festival. Canada Blooms is a not-for-profit organization that gives back to the community throughout the year by funding community garden projects around Ontario and providing horticulture expertise, education and resources. Proceeds from the 2008 Canada Blooms Festival will support the new Woodland Walk Entrance Garden at the Toronto Botanical Garden. For more information, visit www.canadablooms.com.