The Festival of Gardens, with its larger than life citrus sculptures, will bring the city to life from Friday, October 17 through to Monday, October 20.

And Griffith City Council events co-ordinator Shannon Collins has issued a call for people to submit applications so sculptures can be included in the display that is based on the Lemon Festival in Menton, France. Instead of lemons Griffith will turn to its abundant supply of oranges as a focul point.

“If anyone wanted to be part of the display I’d encourage them to let us know as soon as possible,” Ms Collins said.

“We have some fantastic sculptures already but what I’d really love to see is some really imaginative designs become part of our exhibit.”

With special guest author and editor of Your Garden magazine, Paul Urquhart attending and some new gardens on show, Ms Collins said the event was expected to attract good crowds.

“This year’s festival is shaping up to be huge. We’ve had an increase in the number of buses who have registered their interest to come here,” she said.

“We attended the ABC Expo in Sydney at the end of August and going there for the last five years has really paid off for us. Numbers coming from the Sydney area are definitely increasing.

“The drought seems to have had an opposite affect on the festival because we are getting people coming who want to see how we’ve coped here.”

The citrus sculptures will go up on October 12 until October 26 but the festival launch will take place on Friday, October 17 in St Albans Cathedral. Then the festival dinner, which is almost sold-out, will take place on Saturday, October 18.

For more information call the Griffith Visitors Information Centre on 6962 4145.