There’s a magic about Woodford Folk Festival that keeps luring people back year after year, a magic that stays with you long after you depart Woodfordia with sore feet and sleepy eyes.

I saw that magic once again in my too-brief daytrip to the festival.

If you’ve never been, my simple advice is this – go.

Yes, it’s crowded. Yes, it’s hot. Yes, it’s either dusty or muddy (for my visit this year the sprinklings of rain did little to curtail the dust).

And yes, you’ll achieve your pedometer goal for the day in the first hour.

But the experience is more than worth it.

This year’s festival offers up the usual delights of music, comedy, circus, workshops, talks, dancing, street performers, chai tents, street food, and more.

There’s only so much you can fit into a day, so plan wisely if there are things you really want to see or do, or just wander from venue to venue and find the little surprises waiting around every corner.

We didn’t factor in the long line-up of cars to get into the parking lot, then the wait to get on a bus into the festival site, so we eventually arrived into the festival around lunchtime.

Highlights for me were the Sunny Coast Rude Boys who had a packed-out crowd at their high-energy show at Blues Town, and Sunshine Coast duo The Dreggs at the Pineapple Lounge.

This was my first introduction to The Dreggs and I’ll be keeping an eye out for them next time they’re in the Brisbane region.

And, of course, the friendly smiles and conversations with strangers.

Woodfordia is a community in every sense of the word, and a place where everyone is welcome.

Let’s begin with the meaning of ‘folk’… People in general.
And the meaning of ‘festival’… A period of festive activities, cultural events or entertainment.

Put it all together at the fabulous Woodford venue and you have the ‘Woodford Folk Festival’, a period of festive activities, cultural events and entertainment for everybody to enjoy.

Add a myriad of options to satisfy the taste buds and top up the energy levels, a host of intriguing market stalls to explore, ample places to sit and enjoy the atmosphere and you have the perfect event…

With more than 2000 local, national and international artists, musicians and presenters showcasing over 438 performances throughout the six days of the festival there is certainly something for everyone… Circus, cabaret, comedy, dance, rock/pop, blues/roots, traditional folk, roving street entertainment, children’s festival, poetry, storytelling, interactive workshops, talks and more…

With so many options it is well worth planning your day for your ‘must-see events’ before you go.

There is an excellent Woodford Folk Festival app which includes the timetable of all events and has the capacity to add your ‘must-see events’ to a personalised programme within the app.

The other option is simply to take it as it comes and explore, discover and enjoy.

On top of exploring the market stalls, discovering the Labyrinth and the Library of Leaves, enjoying the roving street entertainment and taking time to sit to enjoy the rich and diverse atmosphere while enjoying a selection of tantalising food and refreshment options, I also managed to attend some excellent performances.

Here is a quick snapshot…
Kasey Chambers – country singer/songwriter
Archie Roach – personal reflections through music and song
Arrr We There Yet? – pirate-themed comedy circus performance
Burundi Drummers – powerful African drumming performance
Those Tap Guys – a tour de force of show time tap dancing
Gypsy Rumble – Celtic and bush dance music
Cabaret – Anya Anastasia, Dr Hubble’s Bubbles, David Splatt

As day turns into night, street lanterns come alight, fairy lights twinkle everywhere and the atmosphere becomes enchanting. Magical street performers emerge, the entertainment continues and the people continue to enjoy!

I left with a sense of contentment of a thoroughly enjoyable experience but also with a little sadness that the day was over… I will be back next year, most likely with a multi-day ticket…

This is certainly an annual date claimer and an experience not to be missed!!!

Woodford Folk Festival… Putting the ‘awe’ back into ‘awesome’…

It was my first time going to this event. It has been around for quite a few years, or so we were told by some of the festival-goers.

Which was apparent as we drove from Brisbane, it was very well sign marked and very easy to get into the right place for ticket collection and day parking.

Everyone person working the festival that we talked to was very friendly and full of information.

We arrived at around 9:30am, which wasn’t too full of festival-goers, it took us around 10 minutes to get our parking space sorted and the wrist bands for entrance.

It was quite clearly marked where to catch the shuttle from parking to the festival and the buses came around often enough that we didn’t end up waiting for long.

Once we got off the shuttle we began wandering around and checking out the various shops and food stalls and got our bearings for the rest of the day. It wasn’t very busy until closer to noon.

We decided to stop in and watch an educational demonstration on how to extract your own essential oils from the various flora that grows around Australia.

It was a very good treat to see the process of extracting the essential oil from Lemon Myrtle leaves.

Something that we’ll probably try at some point, and which reminded me of some simple chemistry experiments I did when I was in high school, some decades in the past.

We then wandered around to enjoy a sound immersion session in the labyrinth which was very meditative and relaxing.

We didn’t mind that it was raining on us a little, it actually felt refreshing.

And then we ran into some friends of ours that we didn’t expect to see but were glad we did. The good part about this festival being so close to Brisbane is you might run into some people you know, and that was a great thing. So we wandered around with them for a while.

The food was absolutely amazing, the toughest choice for lunch was making a decision, since deciding on one place to eat meant you missed out on all the other options. So we ended up sharing a few different meals between us all which was very delightful.

When it began pouring out we ducked into a Cabaret performance, and it was quite well done, great vocals and very entertaining.

Then we saw a bit of a Cirque performance with some very talented and gymnastic performers. It was quite entertaining.

As for the shops, we found some exceptional custom clothing and leatherworking shops by some very talented individuals.

Pendragon Shoes really stuck out with their custom footwear, and it was quite an awesome surprise to see such craftsmanship.

The exhibits really opened our eyes to the high levels of talent and creativity that this part of the world offers.

All in all very happy we spent the day there, next year we plan on spending at least a couple days to really soak it in, and meet more interesting and amazing people.

I highly recommend this festival to anyone, including families as there were ample activities for children to partake in.

Arrived at the festival site via the Somerset Kilcoy route, such a scenic route to the Woodford Folk Festival.

The site was so busy with ticketing, camping passes and car parking.

However, the immediate and obvious difference was how happy and friendly everyone was.

The process of finding and setting up our overnight camping site was easy.

Fellow campers waved at us and directed us to the best available tent sites.

Excellent camping set up and staffed by excellent volunteers.

A shuttle bus took us along green country lanes and we had finally arrived for our first visit to the WFF.

Such a massive array of crafts, food, bars, performances on offer at this huge site.

A festival programme is an absolute must.

The festival crowd was a phenomenal mix of ages, groups, fashions, costumes, hats, etc., etc. but warmth and happiness simply exuded from every single person we met.

Too many options for our one day visit so we simply wandered around stopping at various performances, demonstrations and stalls.

Participated in a Japanese dance class, listened to the Celtic folk sessions, enjoyed the circus act, enjoyed the 1990’s aerobics class at Jungle bus, meandered through the blue zone and sampled the wonderful food and drinks options along the way.

So many colourful and dramatic art installations to be enjoyed throughout the site.

I am not a camping fan as such but nonetheless I had such a great sleep in my simple pop up tent.

A wonderful festival, a reminder to us all to appreciate the gifts of simplicity, community and active participation.