Bondi Festival Is Returning for 2025 with Ice Skating, Vibrant Artworks, Dog Parades, Comedy Galas and a Giant Ferris Wheel
This winter favourite is back this July for its biggest edition to date, with 17 days of eclectic programming in and around Bondi Pavilion.
Sydneysiders, your mid-winter blues just got a neon-lit, dog-parading, Ferris-wheel-spinning antidote. Bondi Festival is back this July for its biggest edition to date, with 17 days of eclectic programming in and around Bondi Pavilion.
On the bill you'll a jam-packed lineup of comedy, theatre, live music, art installations and interactive experiences. They're joining beloved mainstays like the beachside ice-skating rink and the 25-metre-high Bondi Vista Ferris Wheel, as well as a brand-new food market showcasing delicious local eats in Bondi Park every Saturday throughout the festival, which takes place between Friday, July 4–Sunday, July 20.
It all kicks off with the announcement of the 2025 Waverley Art Prize winners at Bondi Pavilion Art Gallery on opening night, a long-standing highlight on Sydney's contemporary arts calendar. It won't be the only art highlight — throughout the festival, the Bondi Beach Sea Wall will be transformed into a living canvas as a host of Aussie street artists create new large-scale works in real time.
Opening the music program is a powerful celebration of NAIDOC Week on the first Saturday, which will see soulful Sydney songstress Mi-Kaisha and 2024 triple j Unearthed winner RIAH performing a one-night-only gig in the Seagull Room. Headlining the second week is four-time ARIA award-winner Meg Washington, who will bring her magnetic voice and soulful storytelling to Bondi Pavilion Theatre on Friday, July 18, ahead of the release of her upcoming fifth studio album.
The festival also boast an impressive stage and theatre program. It begins with two massive evenings of stand-up, featuring some of Sydney's funniest people, as the Bondi Festival Comedy Gala debuts at the Pav's theatre. Experimental theatre-lovers will want to head along to POV by re:group, a three-night mash-up of stage and screen in which a film is made on stage, while Melbourne-based theatre company Alternative Facts will bring its intimate, thought-provoking play, Sincere Apologies, to Sydney for the very first time. Also making her debut at Bondi Festival this year is award-winning comedian and disability advocate Madeleine Stewart, who'll be hosting Bondi From the Barber's Chair — a three-night interview series taking place in barbershop Badlambs that'll see Bondi legends from across the arts, surf and hospitality scenes taking centre stage.
There'll be a heap of returning favourites too, including the Pavilion Paw Parade — where doggos and their owners can enjoy dog-themed art activities, stalls and pup processions — and Gladdy Drawing Club's inclusive life drawing sessions, which will feature guest artists like Wendy Sharpe. And of course, no Bondi Festival is complete without its two much-loved, always-popular centrepieces — the Bondi ice-skating rink and the 25-metre-high Bondi Vista Ferris Wheel. New this year, Bondi Park will host the Blue Sky Markets over three massive Saturdays — head over between 11am–9pm for bites by some of the Eastern Suburbs' favourite eateries.
Brett Boardman Photography
Bondi Festival 2025 takes place in and around Bondi Pavilion between Friday, July 4–Sunday, July 20. For more info and the full program, head to the event's website.
