Overview
Slap on that sunscreen and ready your most durable festival shoes. The annual pre-summer celebration of community spirit, craftiness and general shenanigans that is Newtown Festival is just over a month away and this year, there's a whole seven days of festivities to immerse yourself in pre-festival day. That's right, an entire week of festival-ing.
The inaugural Newtown Festival Week will sunny up your life and douse you in community vibes and warm fuzzy feels from November 1, culminating with the much-loved and ever-sun-fuelled festival day on Sunday, November 9 in Camperdown Memorial Rest Park. As always, your gold coin donation on the day goes to the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, which provides social support services to disadvantaged people in the Inner West.
The program for the week includes events, gigs and workshops showcasing the community's creativity and individuality, and a list of food and drink specials sure to have mouths watering and lines forming.
"We thought it was time to take the celebrations back to the streets, and remind everyone of just how much we’ve got to offer in this neighbourhood," says festival director Sue Andersen.
And what they've got to offer is pretty damn exciting, Newtown. Highlights of the week include live music at Corridor and Miss Peaches, a festival edition of Tokyo Sing Song's loose late night cabaret Care?-E?-Okay!, and Repressed Records' Only Mildly Neighbour Unfriendly Experimental Music Night. With a special burger at Mary's, and a festival combo at Bloodwood that'll leave change in your pocket for a scoop of one Gelato Blue's boozy, bespoke festival flavours, they've got you covered for satisfyingly Instagrammable eats as well.
The 2014 festival's theme is 'Newtown Republic' — a cheeky nod to the individuality and community spirit of the suburb. The extension of the festival to the surrounding streets and businesses in the week leading up to it seems kind of natural — it's all about mutual support, inclusivity, and celebrating the local.
Newtown Festival Week runs November 1–9. Check out the full program here.