11 Kildare exhibitors join line-up for Bord Bia Bloom 2024

Bord Bia Bloom announced that 11 Kildare exhibitors across gardening, food and drink will feature at this year’s event. Ireland’s favourite festival of flowers, food and fun, returns to the Phoenix Park, Dublin, this June bank holiday weekend (May 30 – June 3) and promises attendees a great day out with its colourful collection of show gardens, tantalising displays of Irish food and drink, inspiring talks and demos, and live interactive entertainment for visitors of all ages.

Now in its 18th year, the festival expects to welcome more than 100,000 visitors over five action-packed days for another experience that is rooted in sustainable living. Speaking at the launch of this year’s event, Jim O’Toole, CEO, Bord Bia said, “We are immensely proud of how Bord Bia Bloom has developed as a unique festival experience. Bloom was originally founded to provide a premier platform for showcasing Irish horticulture, food, and drink and we have succeeded in delivering on this vision.  

He continued, “As we look forward to the eighteenth year, the festival is more relevant than ever. Bloom offers visitors the opportunity to sample quality products and innovations, while also providing an interactive, national platform to address important societal issues and hear stories from communities around Ireland.”

Gardens Galore

At the centre of Bord Bia Bloom, a total of *22 small, medium and large show gardens and feature gardens will reflect colourful examples of the most recent trends and advancements in garden design. From Kildare, two garden designers will showcase their designs, including: Joe Eustace,co-founder of Online Garden Designs, won the inaugural Bord Bia Bloom Cultivating Talent initiative in 2023. The 22-year-old recently finished a bachelors degree in Landscape Architecture at University College Dublin and will pursue a masters degree at the same university next year. Joe has worked on a number of projects both in the private and public sphere, nationally and internationally. His passion for aesthetics and ecology drives his design, creating outdoor spaces for both people and the environment to enjoy. His first show garden, The Next Step, won a silver-gilt medal at last year’s Bloom.

This year he will be designing the Citroën Floating Lounge Garden. It centers around a lounge patio which appears to float weightlessly over the garden. Enclosed within planting and cocooned by a contemporary pergola and fireplace, it reflects the ‘Flying Carpet’ feel of Citroën’s patented suspension and echoes its ‘home from home’ approach to the comfort of its interiors. This is a garden that invites you to relax and unwind as you watch the stresses of life simply float away.

Heritage Design is a group of earthy garden enthusiasts from Kildare/West Wicklow area. A member of the group, Judy, sowed the seed of inspiration to commemorate Brigid 1500 by developing a St Brigid’s garden. A design was initiated and work commenced by a very collaborative and skilled team. Sadly Judy Howard passed away on March 7th. Her colleagues in Heritage Design – Michael Early, Gerard Ford, Allicia Geraghty, Peter O’Connell, Margaret Podger (Designer), Bernadette Ward, Martin Ward, and Nuala Waters – remember Judy with fondness as they bring Brigid from Kildare to Bord Bia Bloom.

Marking the 1500 anniversary of St Brigid’s death, The Brigid 1500 garden recreates the simplicity of a sixth century garden and pays tribute to the patron saint. The central focus is a life-sized model of St Brigid, handwoven from Irish-grown willow. A cloak of sheep’s wool trails from her shoulders and flows to meet the grass within the garden. The natural white wool at the edge of the cloak continues around the border of the grass, with white native flowers representing the cloak covering the Curragh of Kildare. The wool was sourced from a team member’s sheep, and handwashed and dyed naturally. Structures within the garden include a drying shed woven from hazel rods, a fire pit surrounded by a dry stone wall seat, and a small pond. All plants in the garden are functional and have been chosen for their edible or medicinal properties, or their use in textiles and construction.

Along with a dazzling display of show gardens, gardening enthusiasts will find plenty of inspiration in the ever-popular Postcard Gardens, which include 13 small but perfectly formed pop-up gardens that are designed and built by community groups, schools, and training groups from across Ireland. Sponsored by Kildare Farm Foods, St. Brigid's Primary School students from Kildare Town, in collaboration with their community of teachers, have crafted The Cloak and the Oak postcard garden.

There will also be a lively Nursery Village featuring some of Ireland's leading nurseries including three local businesses Doran Nurseries and Bees Knees  from Timahoe and Woodview Plants from Naas, as well as floral displays from Ireland’s finest floral artists and a botanical art exhibition.  

A unique festival experienceAccording to Laura Douglas, Head of Bord Bia Bloom and Brand Partnership “A ticket to Bloom promises a great day out whether coming with friends, a partner or family. With our beautiful show gardens, live entertainment, fantastic selection of food and drink and five stages jam packed with talks and demos, there is simply no other festival like Bloom in Ireland.”

Food and Entertainment

Across five stages in the 70-acre site, visitors can discover tips and tricks on gardening, gastronomy and sustainable living in a series of talks and demos. The bustling Food Village will feature almost 100 of Ireland’s leading Irish food and drink companies along with a host of foodie features. From Kildare, Couveteure, based in Naas, Kildare Brewing Company, from Sallins, Lily O’Brien’s Foods, from Cloona and Rye River Brewing Company from Cellbridge will feature. Attendees can also enjoy live cookery demonstrations from some of Ireland’s leading chefs including Darina Allen, Neven Maguire, Catherine Fulvio, Rory O’Connell, Fiona Uyema, Edward Hayden, Trisha Lewis, Adrian Martin, Erica Drum, Shane Smith and Brian McDermott. The Quality Kitchen stage will also host interviews with more than 40 Irish food producers.  

On the Sustainable Living Stage, 40 insightful talks will take place throughout Bloom which will tackle issues such as food waste, plastic pollution, the importance of pollinators, while sharing sustainable food solutions, tips for home energy saving, natural skincare hacks and much more! A series of expert panel discussions will be MC’d by broadcaster Suzanne Campbell.

Meanwhile, the Garden Stage will welcome Bloom show garden designers past and present, garden experts such as Fiann Ó’Nualláin (Holistic Gardener), Monica Alvaréz (Super Garden Judge) Jimi Blake (Huntingbrook Gardens), Paul Smyth (RHSI Bellefield House), Niall McAuley (Gardening influencer); along with specialist plant nurseries, floral art groups, conservation groups and more for a mix of inspirational, helpful talks about gardening and garden design.

There is also plenty to do for all the family with live entertainment on the Main Stage, while the ‘Budding Bloomers’ area promises to keep children engaged and entertained with a food school, workshops on bugs, books, birds and bubbles; games, toddler play area and much more!   RTÉjr will offer a selection of science and magic shows.  For shopping enthusiasts, the Design & Crafts Council Ireland area, the indoor Retail Pavilion and outdoor retail area and the Plant Emporium will feature an array of quality products for home and garden.

Finally, RTÉ Radio 1’s Roadcaster will be onsite over the weekend with a mix of live broadcasts from RTE 1’s Countrywide, and Lyric FM’s Niall Carroll, Lorcan Murray and Evelyn Grant. The Main Stage will host Lyric FM’s Marty in the Morning and Simon Delaney, along with special guests and performances from musicians.

Tickets Bord Bia Bloom takes place Thursday, May 30 – Monday, June 3 2024 at the Phoenix Park, Dublin, with the show open from 9am – 6pm daily. 

Tickets are on sale and priced at €30.  Up to two children aged 12 and under go free with every adult ticket. For more information see bordbiabloom.com