The 49th Yercaud Summer Festival and Flower Show began at Anna Park in Yercaud here on Friday (May 22). District Collector K. Elambahavath inaugurated the seven-day festival in the presence of Yercaud MLA P. Usharani, Salem West MLA G. Lakshmanan and Veerapandi MLA M. Rajasekar.

Organised annually to promote tourism in the hill station, the festival will continue till May 28 with floral displays, cultural programmes, entertainment events and sports competitions. This year’s flower show has been designed around the theme of protecting agriculture and feeding the world. The horticulture department has created floral installations depicting integrated farming, including a farmer ploughing using bulls; cows with calves; goats, hens; rabbits; ducks; bees; and a farmhouse using 90,000 roses.

Among the major attractions are a teddy bear made with 45,000 roses, fairy and Bharatanatyam dancer figures, and cartoon characters Pluto and Goofy created using roses. Floral models of a double heart, crescent moon, winged heart and deer have also been arranged.

In total, over 2.07 lakh flowers of various colours have been used for the displays. Over 30,000 ornamental flowering plants, including dahlias, zinnias, salvias and chrysanthemums, have been exhibited at the park.

Exhibition stalls by various government departments and food stalls have also been arranged for visitors. Officials said around 1.16 lakh tourists visited the flower show last year and about 1.5 lakh visitors are expected this year. The District Collector has asked people to visit the show in large numbers.

District Revenue Officer R. Ravikumar, Project Director of the District Rural Development Agency Vani Eswari, Salem Revenue Divisional Officer K. Udhayakumar, Joint Director of Agriculture K. Srinivasan, Deputy Director of Horticulture K. Manjula and other officials were present.