The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held near the semi-rural town of Woodford, north of

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural events of its type in Australia. Every year approximately 125,000 patrons attend the festival. Approximately 2000 performers and 438 events are programmed featuring local, national and international guests.

Format

The festival takes place over six days and nights from 27 December to 1 January each year. It features a wide range of performance styles, musical genres and nationalities, with artists playing at over 25 different venues within the festival grounds. Along with musical acts, the festival offers a wide spectrum of entertainment such as circus, cabaret, comedy, street performance, workshops, debate, a Children's Festival and more. The streets are lined with restaurants, cafes, stalls, bars, street theatre and parades. The festival supplies both Season and Overnight camping ground to patrons, with most attendees staying for the entire week of festivities. The 3 Minutes Silence is a recurring Woodford tradition, part of the

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

celebrations where festival goers within the grounds gather for 3 minutes of candle-lit silence to welcome the new year. A Sunrise Ceremony then takes place on the Woodfordia hilltop on New Year's Day. The whole community greets the Sun as they listen to Tibetan chants and guest musicians on the grassy hill. The final evening of the festival culminates in a spectacular

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

closing ceremony, The Fire Event.

Location

Unlike many festivals which are held in or near urban centres, the Woodford Folk Festival takes place on a 500-acre rural property known as Woodfordia, situated approximately north of the

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

town of Woodford. The land is owned by Woodfordia Inc (previously Queensland Folk Federation), who are the producers of the festival. The 2011 flooding throughout Queensland also affected Woodfordia, leaving the Queensland Folk Federation (QFF) with millions of dollars of repair bills. To save the organisation, the Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) purchased the land from the QFF and then leased it back to them for 50 years. The MBRC owns the land, however the QFF still owns all infrastructure and improvements made to the land.

History

The Woodford Folk Festival developed from the Maleny Folk Festival which began in

Maleny Maleny (pronounced ''mah-lay-knee'') is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. At the , the locality of Maleny had a population of 3,959 people. Maleny was a timber town ...

in 1987. In 1994, the festival was moved away to Woodford when it outgrew the Maleny Showgrounds site. The final evening of the Woodford festival culminates in a spectacular

closing ceremony, The Fire Event. Over 20,000 festival goers seated on the grassed Amphitheater hillside witness a spectacle of dance, music, theatricality and fire - with the burning of a large structure heralding the New Year. The Fire Event was developed by Neil Cameron at the former Maleny festival and continued at Woodford, Paul Lawler worked with Cameron and took over as creative director of the event from 2003 - 2011, followed by Joey Ruigrok Van De Werven from 2012 - 2014, and Alex Podger since 2014. The January 2000 Fire Event was featured in the global live TV broadcast heralding the new millennium. In 2005–2006 a record aggregate attendance of over 130,000 visitors attended the festival, injecting $21 million into the Queensland economy. In 2008, the festival won the FasterLouder Festival Award for the most Green Friendly festival. In 2009 as part of the

Q150 Q150 was the sesquicentenary (150th anniversary) of the Separation of Queensland from New South Wales in 1859. Separation established the Colony of Queensland which became the State of Queensland in 1901 as part of the Federation of Australia. Q ...

celebrations, the Woodford Folk Festival was announced as one of the

Q150 Icons The Queensland's Q150 Icons list of cultural icons was compiled as part of Q150 celebrations in 2009 by the Government of Queensland, Australia. It represented the people, places and events that were significant to Queensland's first 150 years ...

of Queensland for its role as an "event and festival". In 2014, the festival attracted more than 126,000 patrons and generated 22 million dollars in direct visitor spending. The Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2015, transforming from a homegrown event to one of the largest cultural celebrations in the southern hemisphere and welcoming more than 2 million people since 1994. In 2016–17, the festival attracted over 135,000 patrons, which was its largest year to date. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

caused the 2020 festival to go on hiatus. After a two year hiatus, the 2022 Woodford Folk Festival programme was announced on Oct 22, 2023 featuring a score of Australian and international artists returning to the Woodfordia parklands.

Awards and nominations

National Live Music Awards

The

National Live Music Awards The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse and successful live industry, celebrating the diversity and success of the Australian live scene – recognising the best vocal talents and musicians alongside ...

(NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene. The awards commenced in 2016. , - ,

National Live Music Awards of 2019 The National Live Music Awards of 2019 are the 4th annual National Live Music Awards. The nominations were announced on 22 October 2020 and the awards ceremony was held on 4 December 2020. For the first time ever, all State and Territory catego ...

, Woodford Folk Festival , Best Live Music Festival or Event , , - , National Live Music Awards of 2020 , Woodford Folk Festival , Best Live Music Festival or Event , , -

Past Performers

2004–2005Woodford Folk Festival
. Australian Music Festivals. Retrieved on 13 January 2012. *

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also made an uncredited and unexpected appearance and performed. 1KateMillerHeidkefestival

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Controversies

In 2011, organisers of the festival were criticised for inviting known

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Meryl Dorey, president of anti-vaccination pressure group the

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to speak at the festival. The

Australian Medical Association The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an Australian public company by guarantee formed as a professional association for Australian doctors and medical students. The association is not run by the Australian Government and does not regul ...

(AMA) described the group's views as "dangerous", and said organisers "had a responsibility to add speakers who could provide the medically approved side of the argument" so the audience were aware of "the risk of the information being presented y Ms Dorey. In response, festival director Bill Hauritz defended Dorey's appearance, saying "We've had a number of speakers, environmentalists and such, who have been discredited by some people in the past, this is no different." Queensland Health Minister Geoff Wilson advised attendees "not to take eryl'snonsense too seriously".

References

External links

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Fire Event Artistic Director's web site
{{Coord, 26, 54, 54.15, S, 152, 45, 19.54, E, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Folk festivals in Australia Festivals in Queensland Recurring events established in 1987 South East Queensland 1987 establishments in Australia Music festivals established in 1994 Australian folk music