Summer is in full Bloom as final line-up announced for popular festival
Monday, March 31st: Today, Bord Bia Bloom has announced its final line-up for this year’s festival, with homegrown heroes Donal Skehan, Diarmuid Gavin, Neven Maguire, Darina Allen, rising star Aishling Moore, Holly White, award-winning designers Alan Rudden, Leonie Cornelius, Ailish Drake, garden expert Jimi Blake and BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Adam Frost among the faces appearing over the ‘Bloom’ bank holiday weekend. Now in its 19th year, Bloom provides visitors with countless opportunities to grow, taste and learn with over 100 talks, demos and performances taking place on five stages across the five days. With just eight weeks to go until the festival of flowers, food and fun returns to its home in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, organisers are encouraging visitors to plan their visit and enjoy a great day out this summer.
Speaking today, Laura Douglas, Head of Bloom and Brand Partnerships, Bord Bia said, “Bloom is a distinctive festival that combines gardening, culinary excellence, sustainable living, and family fun in picturesque natural settings. With so much on offer, we encourage our ticketholders to plan their visit carefully to ensure an unforgettable experience at Bloom this year. To facilitate this, we have added daily stage schedules, an interactive site map, and travel tips on our website. We appreciate the support of our partners, sponsors, and events team in realising our vision for this year’s festival programme. We look forward to witnessing it come to fruition in a few weeks and welcoming new visitors to Bloom 2025”
Bord Bia Bloom 2025
The festival expects to welcome over 100,000 visitors across its 70-acre site, which will play host to 20 spectacular new show gardens at the centre of the experience. These vibrant designs will tell stories on a range of important issues and themes including sustainable living, health and wellbeing, entertainment, food and drink, along with clever solutions for gardens of every size! Popular features across gardening, food, drink, sustainability, entertainment and even shopping, will return along with some exciting new demonstrations, panel discussions, talks and performances.
The Dunnes Stores Quality Kitchen Stage will welcome some of Ireland’s top chefs and cooks, who will create tantalising recipes that showcase the best of Irish, seasonal produce in more than 30 live cookery demonstrations. Donal Skehan, Darina Allen, Neven Maguire, Rory O’Connell, Catherine Fulvio, Aishling Moore (Goldie Restaurant), Shane Smith, Aisling Larkin, Edward Hayden, and Brian McDermott are among the line-up. The full schedule can be viewed here.
The Sustainable Living Stage, sponsored by Certa (official supplier of HVO to Bloom) will see journalists Jo Linehan, Caroline Hennessy, Aoife Carrigy and Suzanne Campbell host a series of talks and panel discussions. Topics to be explored include sustainable fashion and personal care, sustainable food choices and practical tips for sustainable living along with advice from some of Ireland’s environmental and conservation groups exhibiting in the Conservation Area. Plant-based foodie Holly White is among the special guests confirmed, and the full schedule can be viewed here.
The Garden Stage sponsored by Zarbee’s will welcome a variety of horticultural experts for 40 talks delivering gardening tips, tricks and advice throughout the event. Among those confirmed are Diarmuid Gavin, Adam Frost (BBC Gardeners’ World), Stephanie Mahon (Gardens Illustrated), Jimi Blake (Hunting Brook Gardens), Niall McCauley, David Maxwell (BBC Ulster) and Fiann O’Nualláin. The full schedule can be viewed here. Green-fingered visitors can also enjoy the stunning Show Gardens, perfectly formed petite Postcard Gardens supported by Tirlán CountryLife, breathtaking plants in the Nursery Village and The Plant Emporium, live demonstrations and interactive workshops including floral crown making in the Botanical Hub, and exhibitions of Botanical and Floral Art and AOIFA’s (Association of Irish Floral Artists) Floral Art Competition.
The Best of Irish Food
Visitors to Bloom can meet 100+ of Ireland’s top food and craft drink producers at the Food Village and Bloom Inn, enjoy delicious food from plenty of food trucks, the BBQ Bliss area or Bloom’s four on-site restaurants: The Garden View Restaurant, Bistro Bloom, Country Crest Restaurant and The Seafood Terrace. New for this year is ‘A Taste of Bloom, curated by Neven’ a three-course dining experience celebrating quality Irish produce designed exclusively by chef Neven Maguire for Bloom.
Budding Bloomers
For younger visitors, there is plenty to enjoy too, with returning planting experiences for children along with a range of fun, educational and interactive workshops at the Budding Bloomers Children’s Area. This year’s line-up includes Scientific Sue’s Bubbling Botanicals, Paddy Courtney’s Planting Patch, The Cool Food School, Westcountry Willows weaving, Story Time with Dublin City Library, Healthy Heroes and Agri Aware will also return with its popular farm feature, demonstrating how to milk cattle, shear sheep and much more!
Tickets
Tickets are on sale via the BordBiaBloom.com website. Two children (aged 16 and under) go free with each adult ticket purchased. This year, a range of additional visitor packages are available incorporating new dining experiences such as ‘A Taste of Bloom, curated by Neven’ and more. A full list of visitor experiences is available via the festival website.
Media Accreditation
Media accreditation is now open for this year’s event, and interested parties are encouraged to register for passes here.
