PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Attendance declined significantly at the Philadelphia Flower Show this year, a drop that organizers attributed to weather forecasts.

About 225,000 people visited the British-themed event over nine days at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. That’s about 17 percent below what officials expected.

Flower Show spokesman Alan Jaffe says bus groups canceled for safety reasons due to threats of snow Wednesday and Thursday. Then snow actually fell on Friday.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which sponsors the show, had planned on topping last year’s gate of 270,000 people because the event ran an extra day this year.

The show paid homage to Britain’s passion for gardening and horticulture. It closed Sunday.

The event is billed as the world’s largest indoor flower show. It’s also one of the oldest, dating back to 1829.

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