The rural town of Woodford in Queensland is gearing up for the largest gathering of artists and musicians in Australia. 

This year will be the 35th Woodford Folk Festival and the 28th held at Woodfordia. 

The Woodford Folk Festival is held annually over six days and six nights, from Dec 27th through to January 1st. More than 2,000 local, national and international artists, musicians and presenters put on over 438 acts to an audience of an estimated 132,000 people. The festival begins each year with the iconic Opening Ceremony and closes with the spectacular showcase, the Fire Event on New Year’s Day. 

The Woodford festival experience is deep, rich and colourful. It is based on a vision of inclusive and creative community, culture and tradition passed through generations, expressed through story and ceremony. The site, a former barren dairy farm, has been lovingly regenerated with over 120,000 subtropical rainforest trees, orchids, ferns and sedges, planted to create a habitat for butterflies and wildlife.

Woodfordia is transformed into a village that hosts over 25,000 daily patrons, performers, stallholders, volunteers and organisers. As many as 2,680 volunteers across 162 departments are at the heart of the organisation and contribute to the setup and day-to-day running of the festival. During the event, the festival is actually the 67th largest town in Australia.

Each year construction begins in early December and continues up until Christmas Day. Over 450 contractors and volunteers build the village. Many come from around the world to be part of the festival build and then stay for a week after to pull the event down.

The festival programme features concerts, dances, street theatre, writers’ panels, film festival, comedy sessions, acoustic jams, social dialogue and debate, folk medicine, an entire children’s festival, an environmental programme featuring talks, debates and films, art and craft workshops, circus performances and workshops, late night cabarets, parades and special events, including the spectacular Fire Event.

The festival streets are lined with restaurants, cafes, stalls, bars, street theatre and parades. Tree-filled campgrounds, butterfly walks, ponds and wildlife complete the picturesque site. The festival appeals to a diverse audience with all ages and many nationalities attracted each year. It’s a magical experience, and one not to be missed.

HIGHLIGHTS

AUSTRAL

Winners of the Traditional Folk Album of the Year at the Australian Folk Music Awards for their debut album Thylacine, and nominated for a Music Victoria Award, Austral are a fully-charged, four-piece Australian tunes band combining didgeridoo, Irish pipes, high energy fiddling, journeying songs and energetic foot percussion.

ANDY IRVINE

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, raconteur – Andy Irvine has been ‘one of the towering talents on the international folk scene’ for more than fifty years. Whether as a solo artist or as the linchpin of celebrated groups such as Sweeney’s Men, Patrick Street, Planxty, Mozaik or Usher’s Island, his dazzling mix of stories and songs never fails to create a pulsating, heartfelt performance.

DALLAHAN

Forged in Scotland and Ireland’s traditional music scene, but drawing on the music of the Balkans and North America, Dallahan take their listeners on a journey. Traversing styles and countries of the world in a dazzling live show, they create their own unique brand of world-folk delivered with stunning virtuosity.

ASSYNT

Award-winning instrumental folk trio Assynt are former BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year finalists. Graham Mackenzie (fiddle), David Shedden (pipes/whistles) and BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award winner Pablo Lafuente (guitar) are inspired by the great piping, fiddle and Gaelic traditions of the Highlands of Scotland. 

*This article was published in the December 2023 edition of Anglo&Celtic magazine