One of the attractions of Dasara festival, the flower show organised by Horticulture Department at Kuppanna Park in the city, drew a record number of visitors this year.
“The gate collections show us that more than 6 lakh people visited the 11-day flower show, which is one lakh more than last year”, said Rudresh, Deputy Director, Horticulture Department, Mysuru.
During the course of the festival, it was a common sight to see crowds milling outside the ticket counter situated on Guest House Road in Nazarbad.
The tender for gate collection had been given for ₹78 lakh this year against the ₹45 lakh last year, Mr. Rudresh said.
The entry fee had been hiked to ₹30 for adults and ₹15 for children below 6 years this year from the ₹25 for adults and ₹10 for children below 6 years last year.
Apart from the attractive floral display of various models and themes, absence of rains also facilitated a good turnout for the flower show. “Unlike last year when almost four to five days were lost in rains, we had almost no rains this year except for a drizzle for a short period of time on one or two days”, Mr. Rudresh said.
The good turnout was despite crunch on parking space for the visitors. “Last year, visitors were provided parking space in People’s Park as well as City Police Commissioner’s Office on Mirza Road. But, this year, both the parking spaces were out of bounds for the visitors as a public library had come up in People’s Park and a building on the City Police Commissioner’s office premises. Yet, we got a good crowd”, Mr. Rudresh said. He said a majority of the visitors were part of the floating Dasara tourists, who came either by bus or autorickshaw. The lack of parking space was overcome as the venue was in the centre of the city.
The Horticulture Department had created life-size models of the Howdah, ISRO’s Chandrayaan – 2 mission, Tejas, Donald Duck etc., using over 10 lakh flower petals. The theme of this year’s Dasara was based on the last Maharaja of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom Jayachamaraja Wadiyar as a tribute to him on his birth centenary.
Mr. Rudresh said the Horticulture Department staff replaced the flowers twice during the course of the show. Hence, fresh flowers were available for the visitors every four days.
