The Wondai Garden Expo, which is one of the largest and most successful events of its kind in regional Queensland, is back for another year running from 20 to 21 April.

What started as a small market run by the local Lions Club in 1993, has transformed throughout a 26 year period to become a high quality biannual expo attracting more than 120 exhibitors and 2000 visitors. It is now a gardening, home and outdoor living event featuring plants, tools, garden furniture, household products, crafts, clothing, health and well-being products, and local produce.  There will also be local wineries on site offering tastings and showcasing their products.

President Helen Young has been involved with the expo since its inception, initially as a stallholder, and for the past 20 years as a member of the committee. She attributes the event’s longevity to its professional approach, quality garden experiences, and its location in the South Burnett. “Gardening has always been a passion of mine, and I think that living in the South Burnett certainly helps fuel that passion.  We’re not the tropics, the coast, or the dry outback where plants need to be very specific to those climates. The diversity of plants that do well here helps to make gardening more exciting,” Young said.

The expo has gone through multiple transformations over the years. Young said it became clear early on that if the expo was going to compete with some of the larger garden shows and attract people out to Wondai, that it needed to step up to the plate and meet the quality and expectations that these visitors were accustomed to. There is a high professionalism to the stalls on display, which over the years has helped to enhance the reputation of the event, causing it to grow from a small event to one encompassing over 50 nurseries including well known gardening brands. “The expo has a strong community feel rather than a commercial feel and I think that is something that can only be gained by coming into a small community like Wondai, and experiencing its country hospitality,” Young said.

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