Festival

There will be pumpkins. Giant ones and they’ll be weighed at 9am on Saturday, January 21 in Kyogle at the Summerland Giant Pumpkin and Watermelon Festival in Stratheden St ... There are cafes and clubs in Kyogle offering special dishes as part of the festival and right through January.

Anyone who wanders into Narrandera Showground on January 28 and 29 next year will be forgiven for thinking they have stumbled into a post-apocalyptic wasteland. A Weekend With Max Festival, based on the popular Mad Max genre movies will take place over two days.

The large number of Darling Downs locals who help make up the throng at Woodfordia for the annual Woodford Folk Festival will notice a touch of luxury has been added for a lucky few this year. Twenty luxury glamping tents with ensuite bathrooms and kitchens have been launched with the help of $1.2 million from the Queensland Government Growing Tourism Infrastructure fund.

Not long to go now until the fantastic, fun-filled Summerland Giant Pumpkin and Watermelon Festival. Spread the word to family and friends over Christmas. It’s going to be an action-packed day to enjoy for the whole family. Displays of giant pumpkins, watermelons and various other gigantic vegetables.

The South Australian Wooden Boat Festival (SAWBF) will be sailing into new territory for the April 2023 Festival, with Coorong Quays hosting the two-day event at the Alexandrina Cove Lifestyle Village, Hindmarsh Island. This biennial occasion will showcase the finest wooden boats from our region and beyond.

Stephen Cranby. What is Roo Fest? Both Donna [Publican] and Mandy Connell [Organiser] agree. Roo Fest is about bringing artists together from around this region of Victoria to provide a venue for musicians who haven’t necessarily been heard or been up this way before.  

Tablelands Regional Council’s Christmas Lights Competition is on again! Mayor Rod Marti is looking forward to seeing the festive spirit reflected in light displays on houses, in gardens and across streets in the region.

The Cairns Tropical Writers Festival was established in 2008 and is a biennial event. It brings together our regional community of writers and readers with Australian and internationally revered authors and celebrities, who inspire us and feed our literary minds.

Beth Knights. The wet and cold weather did not deter more than a thousand delighted music lovers from their pilgrimage to Maldon for the 47th year of the Maldon Folk Festival.  This year saw the addition of a Welcome to Country smoking ceremony, and an opening party to celebrate the volunteers; the very backbone of the festival.  

Winners of the annual Gomaren & Doctor’s Creek Focus on Farms photography competition will be announced at the Jacaranda Day festival in Goombungee this Saturday, 5 November. “No matter where you live, the connection to farming is an important part of our identity as Australians”: competition coordinator Jean Gundry ... the primary school category within the competition has a focus on insects.

Emma Pritchard. A member of the LGBTIQA+ community and a proud Indigenous woman from Gubbi Gubbi Country, Amanda Daffey is the first candidate to assume the title of Jacaranda Ambassador in the 88-year history of the Grafton Jacaranda Festival after the Jacaranda Festival Committee announced in February that Australia’s oldest floral festival would become a gender-neutral event in 2022.

Emma Pritchard. An exuberant crowd turned back the clock to the 1950s and 1960s at Market Square on October 30 as Retrofest 2022 rocked Grafton’s popular recreational area beneath the blossoming jacaranda trees. A vivid celebration of vintage fashions, classic cars and all things rock ‘n’ roll, the annual event is one of the most popular festivities during the Grafton Jacaranda Festival...

Emma Pritchard. As vibrant explosions of mauve and lilac blossoms engulf the streets in a collage of colour each spring, we know the jacaranda season has arrived, and as a community, we come together to celebrate the Grafton Jacaranda Festival.  An esteemed annual event, rich in local history, culture and tradition, the oldest floral festival in Australia draws people from across the country, and the world, to the Clarence Valley each year.

It was a joyful, heartfelt gathering at Woodfordia on Saturday night. Around 300 organisers, producers, staff, committee, volunteers and friends launched our programme for the festival this year. It felt like a new beginning.

Erica Boyington, Meredith Schinckel. August 12 and 13th saw fifteen young Naracoorte musicians travel plus one adult musician travel to Mt Gambier to compete in the music division of the Eisteddfod, held at Wehl Street theatre. An Eisteddfod is a wonderful opportunity for budding musicians to gain practice and confidence with performing, while benefitting from expert feedback.

Emma Pritchard. The phenomenal beauty of the blossoming jacaranda trees in See Park, Grafton, is an extraordinary sight to behold during the day. And their astonishing colours will once again light up the night sky during the 2022 Grafton Jacaranda Festival ... the event encourages locals and tourists to wander through See Park after dark and enjoy a twilight picnic or relaxing visit ...

A teenager was ensuring the blacksmithing trade was front and centre for the millennial generation at the Good Old Days Festival in southern NSW. Joe Reedy, of Wallabadah in northern NSW, donned his leather apron and was kept busy working the hot forge and hammering out draught horseshoes and fire pokers for an appreciative audience at the festival at Barellan on October 1-2.

The Old Days Festival set a new single day attendance record and one of the nation's biggest gatherings of draught animals as it roared back to life over the holiday weekend after a two-year hiatus ... The most experienced teamsters in the country assembled to showcase horses, camels, bullocks, donkeys and goats all in harness and hauling wagons, ploughs, water carts, buggies, sleds, sulkies and timber jinkers.

District Council of Cleve

Samuel Davis. Music is a family business in Cape York. And for Black Image Band’s Vince Harrigan, it all started in the backyard playing for aunties, uncles and cousins ... This week, the group were one of two Cape-based acts to perform at Savannah in the Round festival in Mareeba featuring stellar acts including the Waifs, King Stingray, Shannon Noll and more.

Overcast skies and cold dismal weather did not deter the public from celebrating Narrandera’s free-ranging koalas at the inaugural Koala Festival on Saturday. The indoor/outdoor event was held at the Narrandera Showground with families arriving en mass to participate in the festivities, all of which were free, courtesy of a NSW Government grant. Almost 1000 festival-goers attended the event.

Prepare your pre-loved goods, your home, unit, garage, street or the school yard as the Scenic Rim community joins in this year's national festival of pre-loved stuff. Residents are invited to do their part towards building a circular economy and hold their own event over the Australia-wide Garage Sale Trail events held on 12 - 13  and  19 - 20 November...