A chat (and giveaway!) with Woodford Folk Festival.

Woodford Folk Festival are offering up a one day family pass for this year’s festival! To enter just head either to our instagram or facebook page. If you don’t have social media, email office@hellolunchlady.com.au with your name and phone number. Good luck! (For all other Woodford ticket enquiries, head here)

Who’s behind Woodford?

Thousands of people, it truly is a festival by the people, for the people. From the core team of 35 staff and committee, to the 180 department heads working with 2,800 volunteers, the Woodford Folk Festival is a home-grown celebration.

Why did it start?

The founder of the festival is Bill Hauritz who, with a small team, started the festival 34 years ago to foster the folk movement. The vision was to create a festival of international standing celebrating folk music. Be careful what you wish for hey.

How big is it?

The Woodford Folk Festival turns into the 67^th largest town in Australia when it is on. With a resident population of 13,500 camping on the 500 acres of sunshine coast hinterland and another 6,000 visiting by day or staying overnight, it is a large-scale temporary community.

Who is the audience?

People from all walks of life. From former Prime Ministers (the late Bob Hawke attended the festival with his wife Blanche for the last 10 years) to young people discovering who they are, from single travellers to multi-generation families, the festival is truly a melting pot of humanity.

What is the most challenging thing about running a festival of this size?

We are an ambitious lot, always wanting to do new projects and do them to the best of our abilities so perhaps we can be our own worst enemies sometimes.

What is the most rewarding thing?

Seeing the impact the festival has on people, it could be a young volunteer learning a new-found confidence, seeing people inspired and awed by the creativity of others, seeing exceptional talent delivered beautifully. It is all about the people.

What about the festival makes it so unique?

We have been blessed to be the caretakers of 500 acres of land (called Woodfordia) where we have worked to express our vision of how we can have a positive impact on our environment. The festival has been the beneficiary of this with the land making its indelible mark on everything we do. From recycling, to purpose built waste-water treatment systems to planting Australia’s largest butterfly wetlands, Woodfordia is a place where the arts, sciences and humanities are permanently entwinned. The festival is a six day expression of this.

What about this year’s festival has the team most excited?

Without doubt it is the launch of Lake Gkula – our recreation and habitat lake constructed this year. The Lake is named after our traditional custodians spokesperson Uncle Noel Blair whose Indigenous name when he was young was Gkula, which means koala. The lake will be open for swimming this year for all season campers. Our swimmers will join the wildlife of fish, birds, invertebrates, molluscs and plants who already inhabit this naturally-treated water body.

Who has been the most outrageous performer?

Those secrets stay backstage.

What makes the festival so family friendly?

Apart from the exceptional children’s festival, it is the sense of community and the respect and tolerance people bring to the festival. It is the sense of wonder that we all find ourselves in at some time during the event, taking us all back to that experience of a child-like discovering of something new and special. Maybe we are all children at Woodford.

What’s the biggest thing the organisers have learnt about themselves and others by creating this experience?

That we are so much bigger when we work together and then we can achieve something truly special.

Enter now to win a family day pass!

To enter just head either to our instagram or facebook page. If you don’t have social media, email office@hellolunchlady.com.au with your name and phone number. Good luck! (For all other Woodford ticket enquiries, head here)