Overview

This is Gainesville's premier horticultural event. The Spring Garden Festival features about 200 booths offering plants, landscape displays, garden accessories, arts and crafts, educational exhibits and, of course, foods. Also featured are a walk-through butterfly conservatory, children's activities area, live entertainment and live auctions. Parking is free and two off-site parking areas are serviced by shuttle buses. The theme for this year's festival is "Passalong Plants," representing the staple plants that are passed along from generations and between friends.

The children's area is free with regular admission price. The children's area will include a bounce house, face painting and a special guest apprearance of the Chick-filet cow. Children will put their face through openings of flowers for a perfect spring photograph. Our all time favorite is making a colorful newspaper hat, cookie walk, and a chance to design a buttfly magnet with coffee filters. The children’s area will continue the theme of “Passalong Plants” in our potted plant area. Children will plant a flowering plant complimentary of Hatchett Creek Nursery and the Kanapaha Botanical Garden will provide a sensitivity plant for each child to take home.

Admission is $8 for Adults and $5 for children two to thirteen. Cash only (no credit cards) at these events. A $2 discount is given for members of Kanapaha. SUNDAY IS CONSIDERED TO BE FAMILY DAY AND CHILDREN GET IN FOR HALF PRICE! Pets are not allowed at these festivals.

Admission Price

Admission is $8 for Adults and $5 for children two to thirteen. Cash only (no credit cards) at these events for admission. A $2 discount is given for members of Kanapaha. SUNDAY IS CONSIDERED TO BE FAMILY DAY AND CHILDREN GET IN FOR HALF PRICE! Pets are not allowed at these festivals.

What to Expect

The Spring Garden Festival is an annual celebration held at the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens located in southwest Gainesville, Florida. The festival has about 200 booths including many where patrons can select from a variety of plants to add color, shade and beauty to their yards and gardens. Patrons can also purchase garden related products including tools, furniture and outdoor decorations. In addition there are booths staffed by local gardening and environmental organizations. In these booths, patrons can gather information about plants, ponds, pests, the environment at large, and a variety of other topics. There are also a number booths presented by artisans who create a wide range of fine arts and crafts for your home or garden.

No festival would be complete without a large variety of foods available along with picnic areas where they can be enjoyed. The Festival has two stages featuring live local entertainers as well as a free butterfly house for visitors of all ages.
Young visitors will enjoy our free Children’s Activities Area where they can pot plants, create floral arrangements, design newspaper hats and be involved in a wide variety of supervised activities. On Saturday afternoon patrons have an opportunity to get bargains by bidding on plants donated by area nurseries at the Live Auction.

The Spring Garden Festival is filled with activities and opportunities to gather information, and purchase plants or other garden related products. There is plenty of food, and entertainment, and seating areas so everyone can enjoy their stay at the festival. Comfortable shoes, broad brimmed hats and sunscreen can make the hours of meandering through the festival more enjoyable. The festival is located in grassy areas and under trees so we recommend fat wheeled strollers, walkers or wheelchairs. For those of you who expect to purchase large plants, numerous small plants or many other items, we recommend that you bring a wagon or small pull cart. Should you find yourself in need of assistance carrying your purchases we offer a Tote-N-Carry service manned by Interlachen High School ROTC students and supervised by an adult sponsor. The students can help gather your purchases and transport them to a holding area located at the entrance of the Festival, where you will be able to drive in and pick them up. Any tips the students receive for providing this service go towards their school activities. For this reason we encourage you to please tip them generously.

Getting Here

The Kanapaha Botanical Gardens entrance (Map Marker A) is on SW Archer Road (State Road 24) 1 mile west of Interstate 75 (exit #384).

Map Key:

(A) Kanapaha Gardens Entrance; (B) Limited Onsite Parking;
(C) Remote Parking: Veteran's Park; (D) Remote Parking: Kanapaha Middle School
FREE Shuttle Busses every 15 minutes between remote parking and the festival!!

Free Parking

There is some free parking on the grounds of the gardens (Map Marker B) but it fills up quickly. It is recommended that patrons use one of the remote parking lots and board the free shuttle buses to get to and from the gardens.
The free shuttle buses run every 15 minutes Saturday from 8:30 am until 5:30 pm and Sunday from 9:30 am until 5:30 pm. We will be providing handicapped buses this year in addition to the regular buses.

Remote Parking is available at:

Veteran’s Park

4700 SW 41st Place (Map Marker C)
(East on to SW 41st Place off of Tower Road between Newberry and Archer Roads)

Kanapaha Middle School

5005 SW 75th Street (Map Marker D)
(East side of Tower Rd just north of Archer Road)
Paid Parking:
Some residents along SW 63rd Terrace offer paid parking slots. This service is not affiliated with the Spring Garden Festival. The free "remote parking" shuttle only makes stops at the remote parking lots and the festival entrance.

Must See & Do's

Butterfly House

Each year Greathouse Butterfly Farm erects a large screened tent and fills it with native butterflies. Admission to this tent is free. As you stroll through the enclosure where hundreds of butterflies flit among flowering plants, you may be lucky enough to have one of the butterflies land on you. This display provides many opportunities to see butterflies up close and to talk with the attendants about butterflies and their habits as well as learn about butterfly attracting plants for your garden.

Children’s Area

Main Stage

The main stage is located under a large live oak tree near the entrance to the Festival. Performances are scheduled hourly from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm Saturday and 11:00 am till 5:00 Sunday pm. At 1:00 pm Saturday the Live Auction takes over the stage and lasts for the remainder of the afternoon. Entertainment is provided by a diverse group of performers from folk dancers to drum ensembles. Tables and seating are provided under the tree so patrons can enjoy food from the adjacent vendors while they enjoy the entertainers on stage.

Live Auction

Members of The Frontrunners Chapter of the Florida Nursery, Grower and Landscaper Association, donate a wide variety of plants and garden supplies to be auctioned off Saturday afternoon at the live auction. This provides an opportunity to make major additions to your garden at very reasonable costs. Proceeds from this auction benefit the Frontrummers Chapter of the FNGLA and are used to fund research and scholarships for students in area horticulture programs. The Auction is from 1 pm until 5 pm on Saturday.

Summerhouse Display

Displays for the festival will be held in Kanapaha’s entrance building in the reception hall. Also, a handful of non-profit booth will be set up inside.

Seminars

The seminars for this year's festival will be held in the conference room located in Kanapaha’s entrance building.

Activities at the Spring Garden Festival

The Spring Garden Festival is a chance to gather information about the environment, green initiatives, plants and other information from several of Gainesville's local organizations or societies. The children enjoy themselves with activities in the Children's area, the Butterfly house, the Moonwalk and varying other activities. Festival goers also relax to music and dance performances provided by local entertainers at our 2 outdoor stages, and enjoy a wide variety of foods and beverages from local vendors. All this is in addition to the opportunity to walk through the various gardens that make Kanapaha Botanical Gardens so special.

Shopping

There are about 200 booths filled each year with a wide variety of garden related materials.

Plants

Each year over 50 booths are filled by local and regional nurseries and growers who bring a wide variety of plants to show and sell at the festival. Plants are available in a multitude of sizes and varieties including fruit trees, landscape trees, large potted plants, herbs, vegetables, and houseplants. Plants are available that will thrive in many conditions from sun to shade, in wet areas, dry areas, or even ponds and water features. Plants that are native to this area are featured alongside tropical or exotic selections. Local plant societies provide information, sell roses, bromeliads and other specialized plants as fundraisers for their organization.

Garden Supplies & Services

Over 25 booths are filled with products to help in your gardening activities or to make your garden more beautiful. Vendors sell gardening tools, pots, birdhouses, wind chimes and yard art to fill that special spot in your garden. A number of booths have representatives available to discuss garden services from tree trimming to irrigation systems.

Landscape Displays

Several spots are set aside for local landscape designers to show their creative garden design skills. In addition to providing beautiful spots in the Festival, the staff in these booths can help you see the potential in your yard and garden plus provide the services and materials to make it happen.

Arts and Crafts

Over 50 booths contain a wide variety of nature inspired handmade products that can be used to beautify you house, garden or person. Stained glass, turned bowls, tee shirts, incense, soaps, and weathervanes are among the many items available from the Arts and Crafts booths.

Fine Arts

Several booths present original art inspired by nature. These items include paintings, photographs, quilts and blown glass items.

Information

Information booths are set aside for local plant societies and environmental organizations to present their interests and answer questions from visitors. The Rose, Bromeliad, Camellia, and Orchids Societies show plants grown by their members and answer questions from visitors. Other clubs represented include those interested in koi, goldfish and water gardens, and pet rescue groups. There are booths staffed by members of environmental organizations with specialized information that can help answer almost any environmental question that might be raised.

Entertainment

There is nothing better than relaxing on a springtime weekend and enjoying great entertainment in the beautiful setting of Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. Whether you like vocals, instruments, dance, or other forms of the performing arts, the Spring Garden Festival is bound to host something you will enjoy!
View the wide variety of live entertainment available at the Spring Garden Festival. Then make plans to be at the festival in time to enjoy the entertainers of your choice!
Approximately 20 food booths can be found at the festival so there is something to please any appetite or taste. There are the usual burgers and hot dogs you find at most festivals as well as Greek, Soul and Vegetarian foods available. You can snack on hot apple dumplings, locally made ice cream, funnel cakes, smoothies or fruit salads.

Children's Activities

The Children's area provides a number of supervised activities for the children to choose from as they create things to take home. All of the activities are free for the children when accompanied by an adult.

The children's area will include a bounce house, face painting and a special guest apprearance of the Chick-filet cow. Children will put their face through openings of flowers for a perfect spring photograph. Our all time favorite is making a colorful newspaper hat, cookie walk, and a chance to design a buttfly magnet with coffee filters. The children’s area will continue the theme of “Passalong Plants” in our potted plant area. Children will plant a flowering plant complimentary of Hatchett Creek Nursery and the Kanapaha Botanical Garden will provide a sensitivity plant for each child to take home.

4700 S.W. 58th Drive Gainesville, FL 32608, (352) 372-4981