Winter Solstice Festival 2020

2020 Winter Solstice

Unfortunately, we had to cancel the Winter Solstice Festival for 2020 however, we’re still marking the day with activities and a Winter Solstice theme at our regular Sunday Organic Farmers Market on 21 June 2020. For more details and to register your interest in this free event go HERE.

Keep an eye open for news about the smaller event we’ll be running in September instead.

Our usual Winter Solstice Festival of music and workshops will be on again next June. In the meantime look after yourselves.

Please read further for a review of last year’s program.

2019 Program & Map

TICKETS ON SALE AT THE GATE

Winter Solstice Festival is almost upon us. The whole Farm is abuzz with activity as we all work together to prep the site ready for the event.

Our main act this year are Permaculture band, Formidable Vegetable Sound System, who will be entertaining and educating us all with their witty lyrics and cool beats. Plus their climate activist front man Charlie McGee will be hosting our Climate Action Forum, as our guests discuss where to from here and what needs to be done to halt global warming. The main stage will also host local singer-songwriters Mark Moroney and Hannaka, along with local bands Tin Star and Bearfoot, all bringing something different to feed your soul throughout the festival. But make sure you arrive early and join us as we get the beat started with Elliott Orr of Talkin’ the Drum. He will be kicking off the day with an African Drumming workshop and our aim is to get a massive community drumming circle happening. He’s bringing nearly 50 Djembes and we encourage those of you who own a drum or shaker to bring them along and come join in. The energy will be awesome. Don’t miss it!

After the beat of the drums have settled, the education program will start with over 25 presenters across 5 tents, including our new Healing Tent this year. There will be a range of talks and workshops, covering diverse topics like Micro Gardening, Retrosuburbia, Greening the Street, Nature Play for Kids, Sound Healing, Yoga, Meditation, Ethical Investing and Banking, Reducing Impulse Consumption, Collaborative Governance, Bioponics, Edible Weeds and Decolonising our Diet. It will be hard to choose where to spend your afternoon, with so many different great facilitators to choose from!

The kids and teens program is changing a little this year with a change of name to the Family Realm. We will have 6 activity tents going all afternoon, so you don’t have to be there at set times for set workshops. Just lob up, throw out a picnic blanket and get comfy while the kids move from one activity to another as they please. We will also have a great area set up for imaginative play, plus we have a special visit planned by Recycleman, who will be coming to teach the little ones all about how they can be recycling heroes. And to make it easier for families, we are continuing with our recent tradition of having the Solstice Ceremony, lantern parade and bonfire just after dusk so the kids can enjoy it before bedtime.

Talking about being heroes, we are continuing to fight the good fight to defend our planet from piles of unnecessary rubbish by making the festival a Zero Waste Event again. So be a Waste Warrior hero and bring along your own keeper coffee cup, water bottle, cutlery and plates/bowls. If you forget to pack your picnic set, we will have cups, crockery and cutlery to hire at all of our yummy food and beverage stalls. There will be washing up stations set up for those heroes that BYO and our awesome volunteer dish crew will be on hand to help with the hired dishes.

Speaking of which, volunteers are the lifeblood of the Farm and we couldn’t put on this awesome community festival without the many volunteers that come and help us make the event a success. If you would like to join us this year as a volunteer, please head to this link and let us know what roles you are keen to help out with and when. In exchange for 3 hours of your time and support, we will gift you free entry to the festival, a hot meal and hot drinks to keep you fuelled and warm. Plus you will get our undying gratitude, the chance to meet and work with some great people and a warm fuzzy feeling in your chest.

We hope you can all join us for another fantastic Winter Solstice Festival here at the Farm. Please do your best to use public or active transport to minimise your carbon footprint. We would love to see more bikes in the bike racks at the front gate and less cars in the carparks this year; and the Windsor Train Station and Herston Busway are an easy walk for those coming on public transport. If you need to drive, please consider car-pooling with other festival goers. We will start a car pooling chat on the Facebook event page closer to the day for you all to discuss lift planning. Find the event on Facebook here and click “Going” to keep updated on all the activities for the day.

Tickets on sale at the gate

Ticket price includes all workshops and entertainment.

Tickets

Early Bird (closes 12^th May 2019)

Adults – $20 -:- Family Pass – $50 (2 adults & up to 4 kids) -:- Teens (13 – 17) – $10 -:- Kids (6-12) – $5 -:- Under 6 – free

Pre-Paid Online

Adults – $25 -:- Family Pass – $60 (2 adults & up to 4 kids) -:- Teens (13 – 17) – $10 -:- Kids (6-12) – $5 -:- Under 6 – free

At the Gate

Adults – $30 -:- Family Pass – $70 (2 adults & up to 4 kids) -:- Teens (13 – 17) – $10 -:- Kids (6-12) – $5 -:- Under 6 – free

With thanks to Brett Cronin for photos of Winter Solstice Festival 2018