The Village Winter Festival

The 5th biennial Village Winter Festival is taking up residence at Newstead Racecourse for a one-day extravaganza on Saturday 23 June, 2018. Come along with the whole family and join the Village family for the most intriguing festival event in Victoria!

This wonderful winter escape in the Central Goldfields’ Beating ‘Art is set to celebrate the Winter solstice in spectacular style.

Light your creative fire at The Village Festival – part carnival, part village fair and part arts festival.

Previously held at Castlemaine’s Victory Park, this year’s much larger location allows the creative folk at The Village to stretch out and create an arena-style spectacle at dusk.

Kicking off at 2pm, the festival will play host to fun-filled day and evening of theatre, music, dance, circus, installations and lots of interactive activities for both kids and grown-ups.

The Fire Spectacular will breathe pyrotechnics into the cool, crisp air. This awe-inspiring multi-dimensional show is a community phenomenon on a grand scale with local pyrotechnics and special effects expert John Sanderson painting the sky and choreographing colour to music.

 

The event will also showcase local creatives from Castlemaine Secondary College music students to local Newstead sculptor Roger McKindley and local feral cars! You can also contribute to this amazing fire spectacle by helping to build the fire effigy “the boat of no return”. 

Explore the alternative utopian world of The Village created amongst Indian wedding tents, random caravans and warming communal fires. Visit Gherkin Khan’s Amusement Alcazar, pick up a bargain at the Dutch-inspired, Kids Flea Market and show off your best friend in the Famous Village Dog Show.

There will also be kids puppetry in Pearly White, nautical themed story-telling in Temperance and wacky outfits in the Wrongtown Boutique. On The Village Mainstage be entertained by the likes of Kavisha Mazzella, Blunderbuss and La Descarga Band.

The imaginary love child of Nigella and the Swedish chef, The World Kitchen is a performative food stage that hosts food demonstrations from the serious to the spurious. This year, The World Kitchen hosts local cooks from a refugee background. Hear some fascinating stories and sample dishes from across the globe. Plus Chef Peter will teach kids how to cook food fit for a monster ….

Furthermore, you can find a variety of warming winter meals and snacks, plus a great bar with beverages from the surrounding region.

Fryerstown resident and Village Festival artistic director, Suzanne Kalk said “The Village travels across Australia, but this festival is our home. We can’t wait to share it with you.”

Tickets are now on sale and selling fast – secure yours today at Trybooking.

Prices are as follows:

$15 adults

$10 concession

$5 youth (13-17)

FREE: Kids (up to 12)

FREE: Early-birds: if you are struggling financially, you can come to the festival for no charge if you book online in advance and arrive at the festival before 3pm. Why? Inclusion is one of The Village’s core values and we don’t want money to be a barrier

BOOK NOW at www.trybooking.com

 

 

 

 

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Getting ThereNewstead is a thriving town in Central Victoria.

It is about 1.5 hours north-west of Melbourne, 15 minutes from Castlemaine and close to Maldon, Maryborough, Daylesford and 45 minutes from Bendigo.

By Bicycle:

Arrive at the Village Winter Festival by bicycle and get a free drink. Plus you’ll get the best park!

By Car or Motorbike:

The festival site is easily accessible by private transport. Parking is free and plentiful, but please car pool. If you are looking for a lift, or can offer one, please complete this carpooling form.

By public transport

V/Line do operate a coach to Newstead, but not very often. Your best bet is to get to Castlemaine Railway Station, from where The Village Festival will operate shuttle buses (see below). Trains run from Southern Cross in Melbourne at least hourly all through the day and evening. It’s a very pleasant journey of less than 1.5 hours and you can use your Myki card. The last train back to Melbourne leaves Castlemaine at 9.49pm, meaning you can see the full Fire Spectacular before heading back, or stay the night and catch a Sunday train back (about one every hour). Use the PTV Journey Planner.

Trains from Bendigo leave approximately hourly to Castlemaine and take 22 minutes.

Shuttle Buses:

The Village Festival will be running shuttle buses from Castlemaine Railway Station. We will meet every V/Line train arriving in Castlemaine (at least up until 7pm). We will provide transport according to demand, so be sure to let us know when you would like to travel when booking online.

Staying Overnight

We encourage you to stay overnight. After all, the festival will be going until midnight. There is plenty of room for camping and caravans. Cost of unpowered camping is $10 per site (up to 4 people per site). There are toilets and showers on site and a sewage dump point. No powered sites. There will be yummy breakfast in the morning too!