Newtown Festival 2011

Overview

With Halloween and the Day of the Dead not far behind, Newtown brings you a big party in a cemetery. Camperdown Memorial Rest Park's lush former headstones have retired behind the high walls of St Stephens Church, but though its pauper's graves lie long forgotten, the same mix of money, gothic overtones and the everyman remain part of what makes modern Newtown really buzz. The annual Newtown Festival brings together old school residents, nouveau riche and nouveau punk to swap clothes, check out the dog show and let all that music go easy on their ears.

On the main stage, Gossling and the Barons of Tang wade among a host of other acts, while Ghostwood and Betty Airs hang out at the more Sydney-focused Essential alternative. Kids can compete to bling their bike, while MC Cyclery, proud parent of the Sydney Tweed Ride, will be hosting the rest of the Festival's Cycle Games Arena. In the writers tent, Bride Stripped Bare author Nikki Gemmell will air in public the art of airing sex in public and Lisa Pryor chats about the finer points in her Small Book About Drugs. There's a food swap at the Eco sideshow, while the Vocal Local Village offers you some of the more unusual acts in show.