Canberra Day, celebrated annually on the second Monday in March, is only a week away.

This year’s celebrations will centre around festivities in Commonwealth Park and the National Triangle.

Early birds can rise with the sun and see Tico the Sloth balloon fly high over Lake Burley Griffin as part of the Canberra Balloon Spectacular. Other balloons will join Tico in sky and with multiple vantage points around the city, there’s plenty of places to catch a glimpse of the spectacular balloons.

If early mornings aren’t your vibe, you can head to Commonwealth Park and take part in Canberra Day celebrations from 11am.

Commonwealth Park will showcase local multicultural community activities. Guests can expect to enjoy fabulous food, beverages and entertainment from around the globe.

Raio de Sol

Raio de Sol (pictured above) will be one of the local multicultural groups performing at Commonwealth Park this Canberra Day.

With a number of food stalls serving up delicious treats, there will be something to tickle everyone’s taste buds.

Chorizo Chasers will be cooking authentic South American BBQ, Emmy’s Turkish Gozleme will be serving up Turkish Gozleme and La Chama will meet any cravings you have for Venezuelan street food.

Festival favourite Chip on a Stick will also be available from Mr Kernal and Slinko – meaning no one will miss out on their potato intake.

Beseda, a Canberra local Czech Republic and Slovakian community group

Local Czech Republic and Slovakian community group, Beseda (pictured above), will be serving sweet treats baked from scratch. If you’ve been craving mramorovaná bábovka (marble cake), bublanina (souffle), štrůdl (apple strudel) or makový závin (poppy strudel) then make sure you visit Beseda’s stall.

Family owned My Island Kitchen ACT will be serving their usual Pacific Island Cuisines and Yummy Time Dumpling will provide a yummy time of dumplings, as the name suggests.

As with many upcoming events, Canberra Day in Commonwealth Park will be a plastic-free event. Certain single-use plastic items (in addition to those that are already banned in the ACT) will not be used at the event.

If you’re not too tired from the day’s activities, head to the Enlighten Illuminations in the evening to see some of Canberra’s iconic buildings lit up.

Monday is a public holiday and Transport Canberra will be running to a Sunday bus timetable and light rail frequency.

When planning your Canberra Day transport, use the journey planner to connect with services and get where you need to go: www.transport.act.gov.au/