There are plenty of festivals, family events and fairs this week. Photo: Visit NSW.
Across the region, from Gundaroo to Nelligen, Goulburn to Batemans Bay, there’s a whole lot to get up to. We’ve found the best kids events, harvest fairs, town festivals, small-town celebrations and live music and put them in our weekly guide to the best events to see and do in the week ahead.
Pambula hosts its Ephemeral Festival, inviting locals to enjoy art installations, classical guitar performances, craft demonstrations, dance performances, community karaoke, games, plant stalls and more.
Sassafras Nuts hosts its Harvest Fair, helping you and your family settle into the cooler weather with live music, pork crackling over the fire, roasted chestnuts, market stalls and food stalls.
Explore these and a whole lot more this week in the regions.
Multiple Days
One idea explored by a plethora of South Coast artists. Photo: SECCA.
Interfacial Intimacies at the South East Centre for Contemporary Art / Bega
When: 10 to 16 April, during normal gallery hours
Where: South East Centre for Contemporary Art (SECCA), 1 Zingel Pl, Bega
Cost: Free entry.
Interfacial Intimacies is a multi-artist art show in Bega’s South East Centre for Contemporary Art, inviting creators from around the South Coast to explore the concept of the self.
This show operates with the idea that the self is a concept that changes, rather than being a stable and immutable thing. Artists in the show express the many aspects of their personality through portraits as well as what they dub “anti-portraits” through photography, installation, textile, performance, film and more.
Featured artists include Cigdem Aydemir, Bruno Booth, Aleks Danko, Léuli Eshrāghi, Amrita Hepi, Shea Kirk, Georgia Morgan, Bhenji Ra, David Rosetzky and Cassie Sullivan.
Saturday
Celebrate autumn with a unique family-friendly experience. Photo: Visit NSW.
Harvest Fair at Sassafras Nuts
When: 11 April, 10 am to 3 pm
Where: Sassafras Nuts, 4281 Braidwood Road, Sassafras
Cost: Entry is $5.
Sassafras Nuts celebrates the season with its Harvest Fair, providing a day of fun for the whole family. Visitors can walk through the orchards and pick their own chestnuts and walnuts directly from the trees, try delicious food from local vendors and pick up something unique at the market stalls. There will also be live music, pork crackling over the fire, roasted chestnuts, workshops, face painting and plenty of community spirit.
Settle into cooler weather this weekend with the Harvest Fair.
Art, live music and community find their home in the Panboola Wetlands for a day. Photo: Visit NSW.
Ephemeral Festival
When: 11 April, 9 am to 2 pm
Where: Panboola Wetlands, Bullara Street, Pambula
Cost: Attendance is free but some activities aren’t free. | More information online.
The Ephemeral Festival is an annual celebration held in the Panboola Wetland landscape, with plenty of art installations, classical guitar performances, craft demonstrations, dance performances, community karaoke, games, plant stalls, a sausage sizzle, native flower sales and more.
Come enjoy the community atmosphere in the heart of one of Pambula’s most beautiful natural spaces.
Classic country racing at the Goulburn Race Club. Image: Goulburn Thoroughbred Racing Facebook.
Goulburn Thoroughbred Racing
When: 11 April, noon to 5 pm
Where: Racecourse Drive, Goulburn
Cost: Free.
Head to the Goulburn Race Club for a full day of great horsemanship and excitement on the track, with seven to eight races, as well as full TAB, bar and canteen facilities and all the great atmosphere that comes with country racing.
Whether you want to watch some world-class racing or just get dressed up and have a great day out, this is this place to go.
A unique musical journey comes to the Riverdale Homestead. Photo: eventbrite.
Echoes from Scotland: A Baroque Mystery at Riversdale
When: 11 April, 10:30 am to noon and 2 to 3:30 pm
Where: Riversdale Historic Homestead, 2 Twynam Drive, Goulburn
Cost: Tickets from $59.13 | Book online.
This Baroque musical performance is centred around a 300-year-old manuscript featuring rare and original tunes, carefully compiled in the 1740s by two young Scots women who wrote the notes in their own handwriting. It was then discovered more than 200 years later, inside a piano at Riversdale Homestead, the oldest settlement in Goulburn.
This performance from violinist and musicologist Shane Lestideau will present this fascinating new piece of music, essentially unheard for 200 years. Tickets include a live recital, presentation, refreshments and access to explore Riversdale.
Musician Roddy Reason comes to the Steampacket for an afternoon of cruisy tunes. Image: Steampacket Hotel, Facebook.
Roddy Reason Live at the Steampacket Hotel
When: 11 April, 6 to 9 pm
Where: Steampacket Hotel, 963 Kings Highway, Nelligen
Cost: Free.
Roddy Reason is a well-known musician in the area, travelling the South Coast sharing his unique sound informed by his skill as a singer and a songwriter.
Roddy is well known for his significant talent across numerous instruments and his engaging style, with a timeless repertoire of songs. Combine this with the perfect atmosphere and cruisy feel of the Steampacket Hotel and Saturday night plans are sorted.
Sunday
Celebrate community spirit in Gundaroo. Image: Festival of Small Halls.
Festival of Small Halls in Gundaroo
When: 12 April, 7 to 9:30 pm
Where: Gundaroo Soldier’s Memorial Hall, Gundaroo
Cost: Tickets from $25 to $35 | Book online.
The Festival of Small Halls is all about bringing the community together in the old centres of small-town life – the town hall.
Touring musicians Joe H Henry and Tullara are travelling around the country this autumn, bringing great live music to towns across NSW, Victoria and Queensland. This week they’re in Gundaroo, bringing their signature sound while locals enjoy award-winning wines, delicious slow-cooked beef or mushroom brisket, along with spiced wedges, pistachio almond flan and homemade vanilla ice cream. There will also be plenty of great drinks from the festival bar.
Tuesday
Don’t miss out on this captivating kids performance. Image: Bay Pavilions.
Imagine Live at Bay Pavilions
When: 14 April, 10 am and 1 pm
Where: Bay Pavilions, 12 Vesper Street, Batemans Bay
Cost: Tickets from $30 | Book online.
Step into a world where imagination knows no bounds! Based on Alison Lester’s beloved picture book Imagine, Imagine Live is a breath-taking theatrical experience that will transport your family to exciting and dreamlike landscapes.
In this innovative performance, children and adults alike will be invited to leave the ordinary behind and explore a series of magical worlds —from sailing across sparkling seas to soaring into outer space and discovering hidden treasures. With stunning visuals, captivating music, and immersive storytelling, Imagine Live brings Alison Lester’s vibrant illustrations to life in a way that will spark the imagination of everyone in the audience.
