The Floral Festival was a weeklong series of events organised by the Palmerston North Public Relations Organisation between the 17th and 22nd of February 1958. The events were well attended, and many businesses got into the spirit of the occasion with floral themed window displays, quizzes, fashion shows and film festival showings. The event was topped off by the parade, attended by hundreds of people along the route.
This entry to the floral procession has the tray of a truck with people in hero costumes, surrounded with a wall of greenery and flowers. A person walks alongside with a large papier mâché head and a grass skirt.
After the festival, The Manawatū Standard reported (25 February 1958) "Many people have congratulated Mr Beckett [Public Relations Officer] and his assistant Miss B. Norman, on the success of the Floral Festival which brought to the city visitors from over a wide area. With the influx of these visitors trade in the local retail stores automatically quickened in tempo, and it would appear that the festival did much for Palmerston North."
This image is from the slide collection of Nola Wilson
