The Wynyard Tulip Festival, which the council says draws more than 20,000 people a year, will spread into the north-west town’s centre today with a new street market.
Waratah-Wynyard Council presents the free festival, which centres on Gutteridge Gardens beside the Inglis River. Entertainment runs from 11am until a fireworks finale at 9pm.
New this year is the Main Street Market on Goldie Street, where makers, artisans and community groups will set up from 11am to 5pm. Acoustic music will be played nearby in the CBD Plaza on Market Street.
The Play Patch has also moved to the Wynyard Yacht Club and The Watershed. It will offer free performances, activities and family entertainment inside and outside the venues over the same hours.
The Bad Dad Orchestra will headline the main stage at the Gutteridge Gardens Sound Shell at 8pm, after a program that starts with the Wynyard Concert Band at 11am.
This year’s festival coincides with peak bloom at Table Cape Tulip Farm, which is believed to be the largest tulip field in the Southern Hemisphere.
Free shuttle buses will run every 30 minutes between Gutteridge Gardens and the farm from 9am to 5pm. While the festival is free, entry to the farm costs $18 for adults and $4 for children.
The farm opened daily for its peak spring season on September 26 and will stay open from 9am to 5pm until late October.
The event began in 1991 as a volunteer-led celebration of spring run by the Wynyard Tourism Progress Association. It became a special committee of the council in 2005 and moved to Gutteridge Gardens in 2010.
