‘There’s a wealth of great artists and people doing things day to day around us. So part of what we want to do is round them up and challenge them to do something special for the festival, and this year they’re all answering that call,’ says Cairns Festival Producer, Eric Holowacz.
The Cairns Festival kicked off last weekend with a full weekend of activities, incorporating the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and the Tropical Wave Festival, a multicultural coming together with performance, music, food, and art displays. Then on Saturday evening the Festival Parade attracted 60 plus floats and upwards of 20,000 people as it marched from downtown, along the Esplanade to Wharf Street. Afterwards there were fireworks over the water and a free concert by local group, Kamerunga. It’s a big start to over 18 days of food, music, theatre, film, visual arts, family and free event programming that offers almost a hundred different things to do.