You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.

Walter Hagen

Apparently the Philadelphia Flower Show is a huge deal, and I can now see why. I’m not sure how I never heard about this annual showcase until about a month ago, but I’m glad I randomly came across it on my Instagram feed. I guess I Googled enough questions about how to bring my plants back from the brink of death and which plants are pet-friendly for it to realize I love flowers.

After excitedly realizing this event exists, I explored their website for a little bit. Then I clutched my metaphorical pearls because THEY HAVE A DOG FRIENDLY EVENING. If you have been visiting my page for any amount of time, you’ll know my dogs are my world and I’m on a mission to bring them to all the places I think they’d love.

Flowers, new sniffs, a night out with mom and dad, AND other dogs? I knew they would love it. Tickets were bought, costumes were made (yes I’m extra), treats were packed, and we were all set for the event.

Getting There — Parking & Entrance and paperwork and escalator

Driving to Philly is always an experience. Driving to Philly at 3pm on a Friday when there’s a huge event is even more of an experience. We gained 30 minutes of sitting in traffic, but we weren’t worried since we reserved a parking space in a garage close to the convention center a few days before.

If you’ve never used SpotHero, check it out. I always use it when we go to big cities to reserve parking so it’s one less thing we have to figure out in the moment, especially if we’re trying to make it somewhere within a certain time. No I’m not sponsored by them, I just love me a good time saver and sharing my travel hacks!

Parking went super well and they even had signs giving directions to the convention center. We broke out the dog stroller for Mickey and were on our way! It was about a 10 minute walk with the lights, which felt great after 2 hours in the car. We got to the main entrance where everyone was entering and… got told because we had the dogs we had to go in a separate entrance which was another 5 minute walk away. I’m the person who walks everywhere and I love me a good walk. I’m also the person who likes to know things ahead of time so I’m prepared, so that was a smidge irritating.

Brushing it off, we were still happy to be on our way and heading into the show. As we walk into the building we were directed to an escalator. A steep one. We didn’t see an elevator and navigating that with a large dog who has never been on one before and an elderly dog in a stroller was interesting. When we got to the top there wasn’t much guidance, but we headed for the closest table with our tickets ready.

Then we were told we had to show proof of vaccinations in a building that didn’t have great cell service. So off I went back outside to pull them up. It’s one of those things that I wished we had known beforehand so I could’ve printed them out and gone right into the show. Instead we had to wait another 15 minutes to pull them up and get in line.

I’ll get more into potential solutions I’m sending the show in my feedback survey in a section below. For now, more of the fun stuff!

BAM — What a Showpiece

Phew! We made it in, an hour after the dog night started, but we got there! We walked along the hallway towards the main showroom and had fun looking at vendors set up along the way and small plant installations.

The second you walk through the main doorway, you’re basically bombarded with the prettiest view right away. I’m talking a floor-to-ceiling display of flowers in many colors, a water feature, plants hanging from the ceiling, and a flower sculpture right in the middle. This thing was massive and took my breath away. Nothing else compared to it (maybe they should’ve had this at the back?), but it was one heck of a way to start the show.

How We Navigated the Main Area & What We Loved

We decided to strategically weave our way through the show. We started at the showpiece and then made our way to the nearest wall seeing different flower displays along the way. We’d go all the way in one direction and then loop back and forth throughout each area. The displays were on one half of the showroom and we made sure to see those first.

The ranged from massive to small vignettes to interactive displays you could walk through. I loved the more artsy displays the most and this year everything was just packed with color. It was exactly right up my alley. It was hard to see a few of the smaller displays since the night was so busy, but we did get to see everything. The walk through areas were interesting, but we ended up skipping most of them because it became more about the line of people and not really getting the immersive experience the artists intended.

The next area we went to was the prize winner displays. There were TONS of different species of plants and it was so cool to see the prize winners. We got to see a ton of plants we knew and even more that made us go what the heck is that!? Even after being on display for over a week the plants still looked amazing.

After that, we explored the shopping area and were underwhelmed. The plant stands and dog-centric vendors were really fun to visit, but there were a lot of non-plant vendors that just felt out of place and like a money grab. For example, the massage chairs, fine jewelry, and indoor furniture didn’t go with the plant theme… at all in my opinion.

We spent a while walking back around making sure we didn’t miss anything and grabbing pictures of displays that were previously crowded. All in all, we made it through everything in about an hour. One of my favorite things that happened was the popularity of my dog’s costumes. I’d handmade a sunflower collar for Atlas and a bee costume for Mickey and lots of people asked for pictures of him with the flowers. How could I say no?

Dog Friendly or Just Dogs Allowed?

To me, there’s a difference between the phrases ‘dog-friendly’ and ‘dogs allowed’. Dog friendly means there’s an effort to make your dog feel welcome and accommodated. Dogs allowed means they can come but there’s not anything special for them.

When I saw the dog friendly night for such a well-established event, I was expecting a much more dog friendly experience. What we got really wasn’t and I think they could do SO much better. I will fully acknowledge that dogs are not the event’s main priority and I completely understand that. However, if they’re going to make it a special night like the influencer night or VIP access night, they could’ve done more.

I’m the type of person who when I point out a problem, I like to suggest solutions. Here are just a few of mine.

• Let dogs enter through the same entrance as everyone else. The lack of elevator and making dogs go up an escalator after walking several extra blocks was unnecessary and scared a lot of dogs. If we’re allowed to leave through the regular entrance, why can’t we enter through it in a separate line?
• Alert dog owners they need to have their proof of vaccination with them or let them upload it before the event and have it marked on their ticket. I watched a few people completely skip over this table and were allowed into the event which defeats the purpose completely.
• The dog relief stations were a joke. One small piece of turf was outrageous. We actually laughed at it after spending 15 minutes trying to find it. The turf is fine, but nothing about it would make a dog want to use it and it was SO hard to find. Plus there were only 2 of them in a gigantic room with over 100 dogs. I don’t think they were used at all.

• Make it worth it to bring the dogs. Have a special display area for them to sniff. Have events to educate dog owners on pet safe plants. Have events for them like nose work, painting flowers with paw prints, etc. Have picture areas for the dogs and their owners. There are so many possibilities and what we got was one stand for dog treats. (The dog treats were amazing).

Would We Go Back?

Unless major changes were made, I would never bring my dogs to this again. It was such a stressful environment for them and they’re used to events and travel. It just wasn’t dog friendly enough to be worth it for them.

Would we go back again without the dogs? I’d be willing to give it another shot. The displays were really neat, but they felt like they were more for influencers and Instagram moments. I felt like I didn’t get to experience them as much as I wanted to, so I’m curious what the experience would be like if I didn’t have to worry about my dogs and could explore more of the events they offer.

All in all, it was a really unique event that had some of the most beautiful flower displays I’ve ever seen. If you’re in Philly when the event happens, give it a visit! It’s definitely a fun event that doesn’t happen in many places on this level. Plus, it’s a good feeling knowing that some of the proceeds go towards food and floral programs helping educational and social programs in the area.