Rebuilding the Woodford Folk Festival

This will be Woodfordia’s 35th Woodford Folk Festival and sees the event return to the Christmas/New Year dates after a two-year hiatus due to Covid.

Organisers are giving some early indications that changes are afoot with the festival and that it may look a bit different this year with General Manager Amanda Jackes stating, “We are not going back to what our festival looked like in 2019, we are looking into the future and crafting a festival that will accompany us there”.

Woodford Folk Festival is known for its diverse programme which includes music, circus, cabaret, comedy, talks, workshops, ceremonies, yoga, dance, street theatre, installations and a dedicated children’s festival. With over 2,000 performers, Woodford Folk Festival is the largest gathering of artists and musicians in Australia.

Organisers are being cautious about the return of Woodford Folk Festival and believe it will take two years before the festival is back to its pre-covid attendance.

“While we have been overwhelmed by the response from people to the news of the return of the festival, we know that Covid continues to have an impact and we must be realistic about the challenges ahead,” says Amanda Jackes.

Therefore organisers have made the tough decision to not commission the 20,000 capacity amphitheatre venue for evening concerts at this year’s Woodford Folk Festival. Instead, the Grande venue will be much expanded to accommodate the amphitheatre evening acts along with a full programme of concerts.

“There will be other changes to the layout of the festival however this is the most significant and we thought it important to publish this news at ticket launch” says festival Founder and Director Bill Hauritz.

“Of course there are some benefits, including that this popular programme will have better protection from inclement weather and more easily accessible,” says Hauritz, who is always looking for the silver lining in tough decisions.

Organisers are keen to let their patrons know that the programme will be as abundant as ever with over 2,000 artists and presenters across 20 venues.

“Patrons will still find the programme formidable and have the usual challenges of not being able to be in three places at once” says Amanda Jackes. “Over 1,200 performances across 20 venues over six days – it’s a cultural marathon.”

The six-day festival will still be an ambitious event, even without the amphitheatre each night. While plans are still young, organisers have suggested that the amphitheatre may be used for the closing ceremony Fire Event, when all the festival comes together at the end of the six days.

Producers of the Woodford Folk Festival, the planting, festival of small halls and lake gkula camping Programming of Woodford Folk Festival is exciting and very complex said Bill. “It’s a canvass of many colours painting our stories, our music, and our expression in many of its forms.”

“The diversity of its programme is nothing less than astonishing, almost matching the diversity of the thousands who attend.” Woodfordia can be fairly described as an ambitious organisation. Their principal people have commenced working on a long-term vision and direction beyond the lifetimes of the current organising group.

“We imagine our beautiful site at Woodfordia as a parkland dedicated to the Arts, Humanities and Folk Lore underpinned by a powerful sense of environmental responsibility and innovations. said Bill. “We see ourselves as an institution that can support artists, thinkers, innovators and businesspeople in their quest to make the world a better place.” Bill said “while Woodfordia is a small boat, it has a large wake.

While we’re proud of what we’ve achieved, we’re often reticent in talking about it.” “We are very proud of our contribution to Indigenous Australians, the environment, and especially to our musicians and artists.” He is quick to point out that all of this has only been achieved through the support of those making the annual pilgrimage to this iconic event and an army of volunteers.

Organisers say that the tickets will be capped this year to ensure the right level of comfort is there for all with the event returning after a hiatus of two years. The 2022 Woodford Folk Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland and features on the It’s Live! in Queensland events calendar.