Woodford Folk Festival

A range of sponsorship benefits are available. Please contact Kim Pengelly for further information.

The festival land (now known as Woodfordia) was purchased in July 1994 for the purpose of securing a permanent home for the then Maleny Folk Festival. The festival was first held at the Maleny showgrounds on the Easter long weekend of 1987 and from that time until 1993, the festival kept growing at a spectacular rate. After the eighth festival (1992/93) it was obvious to all that the festival no longer fitted in the Maleny Show Grounds.

The entire organising group had been searching for a venue for years, but it was not until July 1994 that the Woodford site was secured. The Infrastructure Project at Woodford commenced on the 2nd September 1994, just 15 weeks before the festival started. This project saw the foundations laid for future site infrastructure including 16 mega-litre dam, an extensive network of vehicular and pedestrian roads, pedestrian bridges, an underground sewage reticulation system, sullage and potable water reticulation, drainage and venue earthworks. Due to limited hire options at the time, the construction of the first camping shower and toilet blocks and a million other tasks were only completed literally minutes before the festival commenced. The festival was opened on the new land on the 28 December 1994 and was called the Maleny Folk Festival Woodford.

In 1997 the tree planting weekends commenced with people coming to the land for the weekend to participate in tree planting and cultural activities. Since 1997 over 100,000 trees have been planted on the site. This project has made considerable inroads in transforming the site from a dairy farm to a parklands dedicated to the arts and humanities and folklore, and festival goers are now able to camp in the shade of trees that they themselves planted.

Since 1994, the QFF has purchased three additional parcels of land: a 82 acre property located adjacent to the current site (purchased in December 2003), a 40 acre property located adjacent to the land purchased in 2003 (purchased in January 2005), and a 40 acre property with two residential houses located on the corner of Woodrow Road and Beerwah-Kilcoy H'way (purchased in September 2007). These purchases have increased the size of the QFF property to 400 acres.

Improvements and Facilities

Since 1994 the QFF has been investing in the land and developing it into a festival site. To date, in excess of $14M has been invested in site facilities. The major achievements include:

• 57 Amenity Blocks
• Onsite Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Onsite Water Filtration Plant
• Administration Offices
• Workshop
• Visual Arts Studio
• 55km's of all-weather roads
• 25,000 capacity amphitheatre
• Major electrical infrastructure including transformers, 156 power poles and more than 10km's of aerial power lines
• Pathways and pedestrian bridges
• 100,000 trees, understory, sedges and orchards

The festival programme features concerts, dances, street theatre, writers' panels, film festival, comedy sessions, acoustic jams, social dialogue and debate, folk medicine, an entire children's festival, an environmental programme featuring talks, debates and films, art and craft workshops, circus performances and workshops, late night cabarets, parades and special events including a spectacular fire event.

Within the festival village you can find 35 performance venues, of which 18 are all weather. The festival streets are lined with restaurants, cafes, stalls, bars, street theatre and parades. Tree-filled campgrounds, butterfly walks, ponds and wildlife complete the picturesque site.

The festival appeals to a diverse audience with all ages and many nationalities attracted each year. The event is powered by an army of volunteers whose numbers are now in excess of 2300.

Volunteering is a great way to get involved and experience the spirit of the Woodford Folk Festival.

The festival is a place you can escape from 'reality' and immerse yourself in cultures from near and far. It is a place where artists inspire, community spirit engulfs and life memories are made.