Get ready for the most vibrant event of the year: the Clarkia Flower Festival! Mark your calendars and invite your friend to join us for a fun-filled day celebrating nature and community.
Join us on Saturday, May 16 from 10 am to 4 pm for an unforgettable celebration featuring exciting nature activities, a lively beer garden, fantastic live music, amazing community organizations, and so much more! Admission to this event is free and open to the public, no RSVP required. You won’t want to miss out on this blooming good time!
NOTE: The Garden will open at 10 am on May 16 in preparation for the festival.
Event Highlights:
- Tables from local organizations
- Themed Naturalist Walks
- Engaging talks and activities about nature
- Delicious food trucks
- A fun beer garden
- Live music
- Arts and crafts for everyone
Opening Ceremony:
Jewell Terrace
10 AM: Land Blessing Ceremony by Cultural Bearer, Tina Calderon
Speakers:
La Kretz Garden Pavilion
11 AM: Ask a Gardener with Assistant Director Allison Keeney
1 PM: Clarkia: Icons of the California Landscape with Dr. Gregor-Fausto Siegmund, Assistant Researcher at UCLA, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
2 PM: Gather, Split, and Stitch: Basketry Practices from Southern California with UCLA Associate Professor Dr. Theresa Ambo and UCLA alumnus and incoming MA student Todd Ambo (enrolled member JBMI)
3 PM: Evaluating and Improving UCLA Campus Biodiversity with August Cowley and Max Reines, 2025-2026 IoES Campus Biodiversity Practicum at UCLA
Musicians:
Outdoor Amphitheater
10 AM: Kian Kazranian
11 AM: Learn to Forget
12 PM: Mariachi de Uclatlán
1 PM: Mia Akemon with Maxx Gomes
2 PM: Fathoms
3 PM: La Compañia
Activities:
Park’s Patio (all day)
- Button Making
- Coloring Pages
- Flower Crowns
- Postcard Making
- Wish Tree
Botany Building
- 12 PM to 2 PM: Herbarium Open House
Garden Tours take place every hour starting at 10 am with the final tour at 3 pm. Tours begin at La Kretz Garden Pavilion.
Food Vendors:
- Rice Balls of Fire
- Creamy Boys
- Go Beyond the Bowl
- Sunseri’s Bar and Beverage Catering
Vendors:
- Invertebrate Club of Southern California
- Margaret Gallagher Art
- Berbo Studio
- Hunny Bunny Studios
- Fostering Flowers
- Soapure
- Louise Fleurs
- Sunny Tran
- Crafting for Cancer
- LA Is Not A Desert
- Growing Works Nursery
Community Partners:
- Altadena Seed Library
- Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains
- California Wildlife Center (CWC)
- CNPS Santa Monica Mountains Chapter
- Friends of the LA River (FOLAR)
- Los Angeles Public Library
- Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability
- Save the Vireo
- Southern California Botanists
- Stunt Ranch
- Tawa Compost
- The Xerces Society
- Theodore Payne Foundation
- Tree People
- Women Forage SoCal
- Westwood Greenway
- National Forest Foundation
- HoneyLove
- Community Organized Relief Effort
- Vets Garden
- Holmby Westwood Green Team
- Office of the City Clerk
UCLA Organizations:
- Bruin Birding Club
- Congo Basin Institute at UCLA
- Sage Hill
- UCLA Botanical Club
- UCLA EEB Undergraduate Association
- UCLA Environmental Student Network (ESN)
- Ecological Restoration Association at UCLA
- UCLA Campus Biodiversity 2025 IoES Practicum
Special thanks to our sponsors: Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, UCLA Health, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, UCLA Department of Life Sciences, the W Los Angeles, and UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Visit this link for more information about parking on campus and an interactive parking map.
