Australia’s 67th largest town will start to take shape this week in the lush, uninhabited hills of the Sunshine Coast hinterland when construction begins on Woodfordia, the 500 acre site that Woodford Folk Festival calls home each year.
The self-contained pop-up village will welcome more than 2000 artists, performers and presenters; 8000 campers; and an aggregate attendance of 125,000 people for the 33rd annual Woodford Folk Festival from 27 December 2018 to 1 January 2019.
When complete, there will be 25 stages, 200 shops, 60 cafes and food vendors, 14 bars, chill out areas, a creche, general stores, medical facilities well as state-of-the-art water and waste water treatment systems, recycling stations and compost facilities.
The site, this year, sees more infrastructure innovation than ever before including new sealed roads throughout the season campsite, ensuring a dust free experience and new camping options including glamping tee-pees and dome tents, along with the quirky eco-friendly cardboard KarTent.
Standing tall alongside these eco-innovations for the 2018/19 Festival is the newly commissioned state of the art shade structure, designed by an international designer and the team of architects at Sydney based design collaborative Cave Urban.
Visitors will enjoy increased levels of respite from the summer sun during the 2018/19 Woodford Folk Festival, with the introduction this eco-friendly bamboo and shade sail cloth. Woodford Folk Festival General Manager Amanda Jackes says while 110,000 trees have been planted on site over the years, organisers haven’t been able to provide enough shade for patrons on the streets and mini amphitheatres in the festival proper until now.
“This year we’re working with Cave Urban to trial an installation which we hope will be rolled out on other streets in further years,” she says.
“We hope it will be great respite from the sun for some lazy shopping and dashing between venues to follow your new favourite festival performer.”
The structure will run some of the length of Dancing in the Street – the new pathway in the heart of the festival running the length of the new Luna venue. Other shade installations are street shading on some of the length of Sun Rise – the main thoroughfare to the Amphitheatre. Shaded seating at the Blues venue and shaded seating in a new dedicated circus venue Cirque, along with the Greenhouse venue will also provide patrons with more spaces to relax and stay cool.
Organisers have been buoyed by what they are calling the best weather forecast in the history of the festival. Woodford Folk Festival Director Bill Hauritz says “We think the festival is a great offering in any weather conditions but this year the stars have been shining on us. It will be a cool festival, this is the year”.
With only three weeks to go until Woodford Folk Festival kicks off for 2018/19 Woodfordia is set to be transformed, ready to welcome the largest gathering of artists and musicians in the country; presenting 1214 shows in 25 venues across six days, equating to over 2410 hours of performance.
Don’t miss your chance to experience complete Wood-FORIA with season tickets, day tickets, vehicle passes, camping permits and accommodation on sale now via woodfordfolkfestival.com/tickets. #thisistheyear.
Woodford Folk Festival
27 December 2018 – 1 January 2019
Woodfordia, Queensland
www.woodfordfolkfestival.com
