FLOWER POWER
[BIZ: Maastricht, Venlo, August 30] The next Floriade may still seem a long way off. However, the related agreement is expected to be signed in Q3, 2005. The Venlo Regional authorities and the Dutch Horticultural Council are already debating the issue of how to give several million visitors, from the Netherlands and elsewhere, the horticultural experience of a lifetime in 2012 - there are even plans for a Chinese connection. 20 million people, with strong interests in gardening and horticulture, live within a 100 km radius of the Venlo Floriade site. Floriade 2012 will, in fact, be Europe’s front garden. This region is the second largest horticultural area in the Netherlands and; if the borders are crossed, it is the center of the largest uninterrupted band of horticultural activity in Europe. The region in the south of the Netherlands comprises the northern part of the province of Limburg, in which the municipalities of Gennep, Helden, Horst aan de Maas, Venlo and Venray work closely together. Naturally, Limburg’s Provincial Government in Maastricht is also supporting this first Floriade to be organized outside Holland’s great western conurbation. The Dutch government has also acknowledged the powerful position of Venlo’s agro-logistical, glasshouse horticulture cluster by calling it a ‘Greenport’ and by officially designating Venlo an core economic area in the Netherlands. This business hothouse is now destined to become an oasis of flowers.
In 2012, the Floriade will be held in Limburg’s high north, the Venlo Region. The Floriade is a flower show that is organized once every ten years in the Netherlands. It is one of the biggest horticultural events in the world and has been officially styled a ‘world horticultural event’.
http://www.floriade.nl