Winter fun continues at Festival of W

Published: 08 Jul 2022 3:14pm

Wagga Wagga’s new two-week long winter festival, Festival of W, is about to hit the half-way point and there’s still plenty of reasons for people to brave the winter chill and head down to the Civic Centre Precinct.

Building on the success of the festival’s opening week, festival goers can look forward to more activations offering a range of experiences for all ages between now and the end of the school holidays, from live music, interactive sound and light installations and the pop-up ice-skating rink.

Destination and Events Coordinator Kimberly Parker said the curated program for week two kicks off on Saturday 9 July from 4pm – 8pm.

“We will have a great line-up of musicians including Yorta Yorta singer songwriter Benny Walker, supported by James Bennett along with local musicians taking to the stage on the stairs in front of the Historic Council Chambers,” Ms Parker said.

“Food and drink vendors will be in Morrow Street and O’Reilly Street carpark, so there will be plenty of tasty winter treats and beverages to enjoy and keep you warm.

“The new Airship Orchestra lighting and sound installation has just been installed on Thursday in the Civic Centre forecourt.

“We’ll also see more light and interactive play installations in the Victory Memorial Gardens and on Morrow Street this week with a large-scale kaleidoscope experience making its debut in Wagga Wagga today.”

These new installations, along with the digital artwork projection by Wagga Wagga based artist Alice Peacock and the ice-skating rink will remain in place for the duration of Festival of W.

The festival will wrap up with a closing event next Sunday 17 July featuring a Winter StrEAT Food Market on Baylis Street, with live music and an ice carving demonstration by International champion Japanese ice sculptor Kenji.

Our community and visitors are encouraged to rug up and head on down to the Civic Centre Precinct to enjoy these experiences.

“We had such a great turnout on opening night (2 July) with an estimated 5000 festival-goers joining in the winter experience, including many visitors to our city from Sydney, Victoria, Canberra, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland,” Ms Parker said.

For more festival program information and to purchase ice-skating tickets, go to visitwagga.com/fow