After 11 huge years of getting seriously fuckin’ weird in Sydney‘s south-west, Secret Garden Festival is putting the party gear back into the costume box for one last time after the 2019 fest.
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What started as a group of friends wanting curate a community of people who wanted to let their hair down, party, and wear outrageous costumes for a full weekend has turned into a fully fledged immersive artistic experience over the last decade, and it’s been the space where a lot of bands who have gone on to be a force in the Australian music scene cut their festival-stage teeth.
A festival that’s had artists like Gang Of Youths, Hayden James, Montaigne, Matt Corby, Client Liaison, Donny Benet, D.D. Dumbo, Stella Donnelly, DZ Deathrays, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Alison Wonderland, Rüfüs Du Sol, Mansionair, Vance Joy, Kira Puru, and The Preatures in the past (to name but a few), Secret Garden Festival has a brilliantly bizarre legacy that will likely be remembered for many years to come.
The festival’s party posse released a big, heartfelt statement about the big closing of the door to the country’s most extravagant secret garden, adding that it may “reappear in some form in the future.”
11 years on and what we set out to do has far outreached our expectations of what we thought Secret Garden could ever be. Each year 100s of musicians, dancers, performance artists and visual artists have descended on our forest and turned it into an explosion of creativity and adventure.
We have picked up many awards and recognition for being one of Australia’s best and most unique festivals. We have raised nearly $500,000 for charities and most importantly we have been an essential escape and a release for thousands of old and new friends. It has been a privilege to have touched so many lives in this way.
We may reappear in some other form in the future. But as a wise person once said, always leave a party when your still having fun.
The 11th and final Secret Garden Festival has been sold out for a while which is extremely normal for the forest frolic in recent years, but considering this is the very last time you’ll be able to don your wildest wares and dance in the Brownlow Hill , the Secret Garden society has released a small number of tickets to really make sure the last bash in the bush a maxed out rager.
And like any good and true dress-up party, Secret Garden has themes for both nights of the festival. This year’s is a little more interpretive than previous years, but on tFriday night, you’ve gotta don your best out-of-this-world garb for a Disco on a Spaceship, and on Saturday it’s a fancy-dress free-for-all (but please, be conscious about your costume. Don’t be a dickhead.)
The last lot of tickets for the very final rural romp are available now from the Secret Garden Festival website, so text the group chat and get a wriggle-on. Oh and we’ll update you when that lineup drops, cos God knows it’ll be a hell of a run this year.
