Festival Committee
The Grafton Jacaranda Festival is run by a group of dedicated members who work 12 months a year to put together this world renowned festival. The running of a ten day festival is no small task, planning is undertaken by the committee, management committee and event sub-committees to continue Australia's longest running floral festival.
Management Committee
Festival President: Desan Padayachee
Senior Vice President: Wendy Gibbs
Vice President: Gerelle Blanchard
Treasurer: Gemma Moore
Secretary: Amanda Ryder
Executive Member: Kerrie Dimattia
Executive Member: Angela Carroll
Executive Member: Hanna Craig
Festival Manager: Mark Blackadder
Here is a festival, which celebrates something which is quite magical … It is a combination of the simple natural elements of the blossoming of trees every year and the imagination of a town, to form something romantic and deeply felt, and which has also shaped the community’s identity for the past seven decades. Tradition and ceremony are central to the ‘good old-fashioned values’ of the festival, in a contemporary world of uncertain futures.
- Lawrence Johnston, Director, Once A Queen