Then a volunteer position at Canada Blooms might be a good fit for you.
Volunteers are the backbone of our festival. Bringing with them energy and expertise to help make Canada Blooms a world-class event. Come join us in celebrating our 24th festival, and put your love and knowledge of gardening, horticulture and floriculture to use.
Volunteer schedules are flexible and you will receive a free entrance for any day of the festival.
3 – 4 hour shifts in either the morning, afternoon or evening are available. Feel free to stay and enjoy the show after your shift.
We are looking for:
Please complete the Volunteer Signup Form below or send an email to bloomsvolunteers@gmail.com with your preferred day(s), time(s) and position(s).
If you are interested in helping with the pre-festival horticultural set up, contact Tanya Smith at bloomshortvolunteers@gmail.com
Click here for the 2020 Volunteer Information Package and job descriptions.
We are looking forward to seeing you again at Canada Blooms 2020 as we celebrate all that is our feathered friends and inclusion in “Birds of a Feather”.
Additional Information:
Free parking is available on outside lots Mon-Fri after 4pm
Please note that we try to accommodate all volunteers with their preferences, however Canada Blooms reserves the right to reassign volunteers as required.
If you commit to a position, time and date we need to be able to count on you to be responsible. If you are unsure of what day or time you will be available, we can still use your help, just sign up as General Help and we will assign you a position when you arrive.
Emma Laughlin
Emma Laughlin has been volunteering at Canada Blooms for the past 11 years. She is an avid gardener and lover of flowers and plants and discovered that while at the festival she can get up close and personal with all kinds of plants and the experts who grow them.
Emma has managed to try just about every position available to volunteers and has found that the bus greeter position is the one she enjoys the most. She has recently taken up the task of organizing other volunteers to ensure that Canada Blooms bus tour visitors get lots of TLC during their time at the festival. “It is fun to meet former volunteer friends and also make new ones,” Emma says, “It is also pleasant to meet folks from all over the province and the northern United States who visit the festival. We hope their experience will encourage them to return and bring more friends along. See you in March!”
Maneck Sattha
Maneck has been volunteering at Canada Blooms for more than 7 years. He tells us “Canada Blooms is the one an only walking, talking guide to horticulture and gardening that you’ll ever need. Space allows a naturalistic landscape to be created within and foliage plants provide a lush frame work that is offset by the blooms of flowering plants in all the colours of the rainbow.”
Each year he looks forward to volunteering at the festival “where people from all walks of life, young and old, meet to learn and share stories, ideas and experiences.” By volunteering at various posts, one meets a large number of gardeners who are searching for new, practical information about how to make their gardens more lush, more beautiful, more productive and more rewarding. “As a lover of gardening,” he notes “Canada Blooms is the festival to visit for both amateurs and professionals alike. Every year Canada Blooms is a new, blooming experience for me.”
When not helping out Canada Blooms, Maneck volunteers at the Toronto Botanical Garden. We again thank Maneck, it is through his help and the help of other dedicated volunteers that we are able to create a world-class flower and garden festival.
Alison Findlay
Alison was recently asked why she volunteers at Canada Blooms and she told us . . . “my initial reaction was Why Not? When you are passionate about something you do all you can to indulge in it. And Canada Blooms allows me to do just that! For me the sights and sounds of Canada Blooms has become the big announcement that Spring is on its way! This conjures up similar feelings as when The National Exhibition opens it signals the end of summer. It’s exciting to wander through the show before or after your volunteer shift and explore the new gardens; each trip reveals something new! As a gardener I can appreciate all the hours that go into the making of each and every one of the gardens and I can feel proud that I am giving back by offering my services to the show. So whether you sell ice cream, greet the tour buses or just be a smiling face amongst the gardens you can rest assured knowing that the show would not be the same without your help!! No job is too small or unimportant. The show is great and will always be great because of the love and dedication of volunteers and staff alike!”
Sandy Ferry
Sandy tells us her passion for gardening began at the age of four when her Dad took her out of the sandbox and gave her a set of tools and an area to call her own. Sandy’s city property in Toronto is now home to many cut flowers, ornamentals, grasses, herbs, etc and has always been pesticide free.
Sandy has been volunteering at Canada Blooms since the very first show! She told us “those early days were such a wonder for us gardeners and the show continues to exceed everyone’s expectations. Along with other duties, the Ice Cream hostess is still an all time favourite position. Selling ‘Happiness on a Stick’.”
One of her fondest memories for the 2014 show was winning one of Albert Grave’s stunning bouquets for someone that was wheelchair bound and could not get up to “dance” for it.
This year Sandy was presented with an Ontario Volunteer Service Award for her dedication to Canada Blooms. She tells us she will wear her Trillium pin proudly throughout the 2015 festival.
Recognizing the 2019 Volunteers who received the OVS Award
Canada Blooms would like to offer hardy congratulations to Eliazbeth King and Helen Yen, recipient of the Ontario Volunteer Service Award earlier this year, for his volunteer service at the festival.
Elizabeth and Helen have been volunteering for a number of years at Canada Blooms .
Also recognized this year were Paul Zammit, Ava Henye, Rosemary Passafiume-McLean, and Ryan Heath Canada Blooms would like to congratulate and thank Elizabeth, Helen, Paul, Rosemary, Ava and Ryan and ALL the wonderful volunteers that have helped us out through the years for donating their time and expertise to create a world class event year after year.