Woodford Folk Festival 2012/13

Bunch of hippies. Yes, well I guess I am one of them. Morning qigong to waken up the soul for a full day of music, how else could a day at Woodford begin. Each year the Woodford Folk Festival open its gates on the 27th of December to campers, day trippers and performers. This year with the best weather I have ever had at Woodford it was a real delight not to wear gumboots.

As usual we set up camp on Christmas day, we spend the day under a tree in a queue to get the best campsite possible for the next 8 nights. We stay cool and meet up with our other fellow campers and spread the love with an icy beer in hand. Once settled into our campsite, all the tents are up and the communal tent is erected, it is time to relax and enjoy the leftovers of the Christmas eve meal.

On Boxing Day the rest of the crew turn up in dribs and drabs. More tents fill out the gaps in our campsite and the communal area gets more chairs added along with happy faces ready to face six days of music and activities. Above Mia is highlighting her plan of action for the coming days, must see acts and possibly the hula dancing workshop. You don’t want to miss a thing at Woodford, there is so much to do and see, it is good to have a plan of attack.

Each year we tend to sample the stores around the festival at least once. Though this year the heat put most people on to the Woodford beer diet, lucky for me I was on the salad and rum diet. A few of the stores sell affordable plates of food that are wholesome and worth the money. One of my favourite places at the festival each year is the Common Ground which is run by the community from Peppercorn Creek Farm outside of Sydney. Not only is their food presented with care, it looks really fresh and the portions are the best value for money. Everyone in our campsite will at least once go and eat the barra burger from here. This year though I fell in love with the tofu salad.

Tofu salad

Walking through the festival you are surrounded by art. With street performers pecking at you (crazy seagulls) or dusting you (two very tall cleaning ladies) and weird contraptions made of metal and old pumps that spew water out. Another art in progress was near the workshop area where two ladies were using different coloured soil to create and art piece. This year the festival bars were all dressed up along with many bamboo sculptures through the site.

Music is spread over nine stages through the Woodfordia site. This year we saw many headline acts and the four that stood out for me was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (the tightest band you will ever see), Rory McLeod, Two River Blues and Dallas Frasca. There was also loads of other great bands in between. On visiting the amphitheater for one of the bands we got a sneak preview into what the fire event entails. A large ship is going to get burnt, yay, love the fire event.

The last sunset of the year was amazing at Woodford, it always is. The red glow of the sky lighting the earth and hiding the dust on our skins. We all sit and watch the red glow disappear into the night our last for 2012. New Year festivities are spent with our friends and family at Woodford all together to dance the new year in.  Then a few stay awake all night to watch the sun beam over the Sunshine Coast Hinterland the first sunrise of 2013.

You can also look at the gallery of photos below from the festival. The last night of the festival is the fire event were we all watch the arty performance that is a story of how the corporations and big cities are taking over the small people. Most people just want to see some thing burn. This year we even had a sing-a-long with candles.

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I love Woodford Folk Festival, I don’t know where I would rather be for a Christmas and New Years. I might feel lost if I could not go for one year. I love these special moment during this week where I can catch up with friends that I have not seen in such a long time. Along with making new friends that I hope to see again in the new year or at the next Woodford.