Nine Kildare exhibitors to feature at Bord Bia Bloom 

Ireland’s favourite festival of flowers, food and fun, Bord Bia Bloom returns to the Phoenix Park, Dublin, this June bank holiday weekend (Thursday June 1 to Monday 5) with another vibrant mix of thought-provoking show gardens, delicious local food, and interactive entertainment for visitors of all ages.  
 
From Kildare, eight exhibitors will feature at this year’s event, they include: designers Ruth Liddle and Ken Folan from The Kildare Gallery; Joe Eustace from Barrettstown, Newbridge; Doran Nurseries, from Naas; Kildare Growers; The Bees Knees plant nursery; O’Brien Fine Foods from Timahoe; Ottimo  from Green Isle Foods, Naas; ProKulture organic kombuchas also from Naas; and Rye River Brewing Company, from Celbridge.  
 
At the centrepiece of Bord Bia Bloom, a total of 22 small, medium, and large show gardens and feature gardens will provide a colourful demonstration of the latest trends and innovations in garden design.  
 
Among the show gardens this year is the Sculpture in the Park feature garden. Sponsored by Curry’s and designed by Ruth Liddle & Ken Folan of the Kildare Gallery. The garden is a celebration of beauty and nature, combining living materials and static art to create a welcoming, contemporary landscape. This is Ruth and Ken’s eighth sculpture garden at Bord Bia Bloom. Their first show garden won a gold medal in 2014. Always a popular feature at Bord Bia Bloom, the large garden incorporates criss-crossed pathways set against a rich backdrop of purple and white hydrangeas.  
 
Joe Eustace, aged 21 from Barrettstown, Newbridge in Kildare joins the show garden line-up at Bord Bia Bloom for the first time ever having won Bord Bia Bloom’s inaugural Cultivating Talent award which aimed to attract emerging show garden designers to the show. His garden, ‘The Next Step’ is designed to be as unpredictable as life itself, it features a number of undulating paths and destination points which challenge the user to find the correct step to take next, but the secret is there is no right or wrong way to go. 
 
Bord Bia expect to welcome more than 100,000 visitors to the show over five action-packed days. Speaking at the launch of this year’s event, Jim O’Toole, CEO, Bord Bia said, “Bord Bia Bloom was created to offer a world-class, uplifting and engaging showcase for Irish horticulture, food and drink. Now in its 17th year, the show provides an invaluable platform to highlight important societal issues such as climate change, sustainable production and health and wellbeing. We are proud to see how Bloom has evolved into a unique festival experience, with nature and sustainable living at its heart, while also continuing to offer our horticulture, food and drink clients the opportunity to showcase their latest products and innovations.” 

Along with a dazzling display of show gardens, gardening enthusiasts will find plenty of inspiration in the ever-popular ‘Postcard Gardens’, which include nine small but perfectly formed pop-up gardens that are designed and built by community groups, schools, and training groups from across Ireland. There will also be five days of gardening talks, a bustling Nursery Village featuring some of Ireland's leading nurseries, floral displays from the Ireland’s finest floral artists and a botanical art exhibition. From Kildare, Doran Nurseries, from Naas; Kildare Growers and The Bees Knees plant nursery will join this exciting feature at Bord Bia Bloom.  
    
New to the event this year is the introduction of the Funky Food Fleet which will bring a collection of Ireland’s tastiest food trucks to the festival for the first time.  
 
The Quality Kitchen Stage at the centre of the Food Village will once again host live cookery demonstrations from some of Ireland’s leading chefs including Neven Maguire, Catherine Fulvio, Rory O’Connell, Fiona Uyema, JP McMahon, Edward Hayden, Brian McDermott and Shane Smith, along with interviews with more than 40 Irish food producers.  
 
In the redesigned Food Hall and the popular Bloom Inn, over 100 Irish food and drink companies will showcase their produce and many companies will use the opportunity to launch new and exciting food and drink products. From County Kildare, attendees will have the opportunity to sample delicious fare from four local producers including O’Brien Fine Foods from Timahoe, pasta range Ottimo from Green Isle Foods, Naas, while drink producers include Naas natives ProKulture organic kombuchas and Rye River Brewing Company, from Celbridge who are celebrating their 10th year in business.  
 
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 willow weaving, planting games, toddler play area and much more!  
RTÉjr will also be central to this space with daily storytelling, a kids disco and magic shows.  

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@BordBiaBloom.