December
Early Summer Cooking Master Class
Sun 1 – Lakehouse Daylesford
A full day of demonstrations and foodie discussion with some of Australia’s top chefs including: Scott Pickett – Estelle, Matilda, Melbourne and Josh Niland – Saint Peter, Sydney. Day includes two demonstrations, recipes, tastings, baguette lunch, wine and refreshments.
$195 per person
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Folk Trio: Connell, Friday & Thursby
Sun 1 – Daylesford Cider
Welcome in Summer with good friends and folk singers Mandy Connell, Girl Friday and Floyd Thursby who are collaborating for an afternoon of traditional and original folk melodies in the beautiful surrounds at Daylesford Cider. Join us in the courtyard & cider garden and discover ancient songs from the old countries and new songs from modern-day Brunswick.
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Fanny Lumsden – Country Halls Tour
Sat 7 – Newham Mechanics Institute Hall
Fanny is a western NSW born and raised singer songwriter has had a huge few years since the release of her second album Real Class Act, which not only debuted at number one on the Country ARIA chart (only independent to do so), went on to win AIR Country Album of the year, be nominated for an ARIA award, four Golden Guitar awards (with her film clip for Elastic Waistband winning a GG this year) and three CMC awards.
$40
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Dairy Flat Farm Open Day & Christmas Market
Sat 7 – Dairy Flat Farm
Regional Victoria’s immersive new travel destination, Dairy Flat Farm and Lodge, will open its doors to the public on Saturday 7 December for a very special Christmas Market and Open Day.
A perfect day out for the whole family located just seven kilometres from Daylesford, there will be tours of the vegetable and cutting gardens and guests will be free to wander around the Lodge and formal gardens, the olive grove, down the pear walk to the dam and through the orchard.
$12 Families, $6 Individuals
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Ross Wilson & the Peaceniks
Sat 7 – Palais Hepburn
Ross Wilson & The Peaceniks play the hits from Daddy Cool thru Mondo Rock and into the 21st Century.
General Entry $50
Dinner & show: Moroccan feast platter & Glass of red, white or sparkling $80 a head.
Daylesford Wine Tours – Classic Day Tour
Region Wide
Join wine guide Clay Watson for a whole day tour of local wineries. Tours kick off and return to Daylesford (or your accommodation) and includes all tastings at 5 locations plus lunch at the Farmers Arms.
$220 per person – approx. 6 hours
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Kyneton Twilight Market
Sat 7 – Kyneton Mechanics Institute
After some unique Christmas gifts? Or perhaps you just want to enjoy a lovely afternoon & evening of food, wine and festivities! There will be live music, entertainment, children’s activities, delicious food stalls, wine & coffee making this market a must-do for locals & visitors. Showcasing established and emerging artisans, the Kyneton Twilight Festival offers plenty for everyone to enjoy!
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Daylesford Highland Gathering
Sat 7 – Victoria Park, Daylesford
Immerse yourself in the culture of Scotland with Highland Dancing, Pipe Bands, Scottish food and stalls and a Gathering of the Clans at the 2019 Daylesford Highland Gathering. The day begins with the Pipe Bands bringing the main shopping precinct to a stand still as they parade through the Main Street of Daylesford. A full day of activities including dancing, piping & drumming will then commence from 9am at Victoria Park.
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A Very Vaudeville Christmas
Fri 13 – Palais, Hepburn Springs
Featuring devilishly delightful Christmas burlesque, stunts, a live band, and more yuletide silliness than you can shake your candy cane at for a night of toots, hoots and naughty gifts to boot.
General Admission $25
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GoldRush Trail Run
Sat 14 – Hepburn Springs, Daylesford
There’s singletrack gold in them there hills. And the main seam runs from Hepburn Springs in the north following Sailors Creek via Lake Daylesford and on to spectacular Sailors Falls in the south of Victoria’s restful Spa Country. It’s a perfect place to mine for trail running riches. Linking two of the state’s most famous spa retreat villages in quintessential gold mining territory, the event features a highlight middle section of the Goldfields Track, a 220km trail linking Bendigo and Ballarat.
A perfect weekend running getaway.
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Bakers Daughter (Alyce Platt)
Sun 15 – Palais, Hepburn Springs
BAKERS DAUGHTER (aka Alyce Platt) has returned, but for this artist, everything is new! She is Melbourne born singer-songwriter, musician, actor known for her many roles on iconic TV shows such as Sons and Daughters and Sale of the Century. Reframing her past, Bakers Daughter presents her original music and artistic pursuits through the lens of the Indie-pop artist she is so highly regarded as by her peers and critics alike. She brings to life; tales from her deep dark past drawing on her extensive life experiences and some of these might even be true!
$30 per person
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Country Carols at the Church
Wed 18 – Scrub Hill, Newlyn
Join the locals community for an afternoon of carol singing at Scrub Hill, Newlyn. Bring along a picnic and enjoy the carols led by the fabilous Julian Cairns, Music Master. There will be a suasage sizzle fundriaser fo rthe CFA as well as Food trucks and Bar.
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Christmas Day
Wed 25 – Daylesford
Most restaurants and businesses will be closed on Christmas Day however there are a select few that will be opening their doors:
Coffee at Cliffys on Christmas Day – Cliffys Emporium
The wonderful team at Cliffy’s will be opening their doors on Christmas morning from 8am – 12pm with proceeds to be donated to our local CFA.
Lake House Restaurant, Christmas Lunch – Bookings essential
Entertain your family & loved ones at a truly special Lake House celebration. Join us in the stunning Terrace, decorated with fresh country blooms, a grand Christmas tree, and twinkling lights, for an elegant lunch served on two beautifully decorated banquet tables.
Peppers Hepburn Springs, Christmas Lunch – Bookings essential
Enjoy a sumptuous traditional 3 course shared banquet.
New Years Eve Parade & Gala
Tue 31- Daylesford Town Centre
A fantastic community event for the whole family. Come along to Vincent St Daylesford and join in the fun. Parade, wood chopping demonstration, music, activities and more!
Dont miss the fireworks display over Lake Daylesford at midnight to ring in the New Year with a bang!
Regular Local Markets
Every Week
Saturday: Wesley Hill Market (Castlemaine) – 149 Pyrenees Hwy, 7.30am – 1pm
Sunday: Daylesford Market: Old Daylesford Railway Station, Raglan St, 8am – 1.30pm
Sunday: Daylesford Farmers’ Market, The Woodshed, 21A Raglan St, 8am – 4pm
1st Saturday of the Month
Daylesford Farmers’ Market: Daylesford Primary School Vincent St, 9am – 1pm
Woodend Farmers’ Market: High and Forest St, 9am – 1pm
2nd Saturday of the Month
Kyneton Farmers’ Market: St Paul Park, 8.30am – 1pm
2nd Sunday of the Month
Maldon Market: Fountain St, 9am – 2pm
Clunes Farmers’ Market: Collins Place and Fraser St – 9am to 1pm
3rd Saturday of the Month
Trentham Farmers’ Market: Trentham Town Square, 9am – 1pm
Creswick Market: Creswick Neighbourhood Centre, 9am – 1pm
3rd Sunday of the Month
Glenlyon Village Market: Glenlyon Shire Hall, 9am – 1pm
Woodend Village Market: Forest Street, 9am – 1pm
4th Sunday of the Month
Trentham Station Trash and Treasure Market: Victoria Street, 9am – 2pm
Live Music
Blue Bean Love Cafe – Hepburn Springs
Music all through the week. Check their Facebook page for details.
Palais Hepburn – Hepburn Springs
Beautifully renovated and well loved entertainment venue and bar. Visit The Palais website for details.
Daylesford Cider Co – Musk
Monthly daytime live performances at the cidery. Check the calendar here.
January
New Years Day Races
New Years Day – Hanging Rock
This event attracts over 3,000 each year. Racing at the Rock is considered by most people as a very unique experience, the best that Country Racing can offer, a true Aussie Day Out and a must for the “Bucket List”.
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Glenlyon Mixed Sports day
New Years Day – Glenlyon
Join in a long tradition of fun and games at the Glenlyon Sports Day on New Year’s Day. Since 1857 locals have battled it out on the racetrack, in the wood chop arena, delicate women have competed throwing gumboots (not very PC – is it?), sculling mineral water, scoffing bullboars …. From 10am at the Glenlyon Reserve. All proceeds go to local charities and organisations.
Lavandula Swiss Italian Farm – Harvest Festival
Shepherds Flat
Celebrate Lavandula Swiss Italian Farms lavender harvest. Visitors are welcome to learn about the lavender process from cutting in the field to watching the flowers being distilled for their precious essential oil. Hundreds of bunches will hang beneath every available verandah and, of course, our fresh lavender will be available for sale. 10am-5pm
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Elton John – Farewell Yellow Brick Road
Sat 25 & Sun 26 – Hanging Rock
Sir Elton John, recently crowned by Billboard as the most successful performing male solo artist of all time, today revealed that a Hanging Rock concert for Saturday 25 January 2020 will be included in the epic 15-date Australian leg of his global Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Elton perform one last time at one of the most unique venues in Australia.
More InformationAustralia Day Races
Sat 26 – Hanging Rock
This event attracts over 3,000 each year. Racing at the Rock is considered by most people as a very unique experience, the best that Country Racing can offer, a true Aussie Day Out and a must for the “Bucket List”.
More InformationAustralia Day Holiday – Mon 27
February
St Valentines Day – Friday 14
March
Labour Day Holiday (Vic) – Mon 6
Chillout
DAYLESFORD
Labour Day Weekend – Dates announced closer to event.
ChillOut, Australia’s number one Queer Country Pride festival, is in its 23nd year in 2020.
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Macedon Ranges Sustainable Living Festival
Woodend
Dates announced closer to event.
The Macedon Ranges Sustainable Living Festival is a vibrant showcase of the region’s premier environmental programs, projects, products and services. Located in the scenic Macedon Ranges, festival visitors will be inspired by an engaging and diverse event format that features an exciting line-up of innovative exhibitors, free eco-workshops, guest speakers, film screenings, and kid’s activities.
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Daylesford Polo
St 21 – Drummond
A full day of polo matches featuring some of Australia’s best players and international talent, overlooked by a row of stately pagoda marquees and fashionable crowds. Uniquely, 100 percent of profits from the Daylesford Polo go to TLC for Kids, Australia’s most inclusive children’s charity.
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Lost Trades Fair
Bendigo
Dates announced closer to event.
Celebrating the art of skilled manual work, ancient crafts and rare trades, the Lost Trades Fair, will be moving to Bendigo, but will once again giving career artisans and traditional tradespeople a platform to showcase their life’s work and share their knowledge with festival goers. There will be a range of local food makers serving fresh traditional food & drinks.
Castlemaine State Festival
Castlemaine
2021 is the next year for the festival
One of the major regional festivals in Victoria. A full program of music, film, discussions, performance, visual art, festival club and events. Not to be missed.
More InformationApril
Easter – Fri 10 to Mon 13
DMR Open Studios
Throughout Daylesford & Macedon Ranges
Dates published closer to the event
For 2 weekends in April you are invited visit a range of diverse working studios, bring together professional visual artists and you the public, in the beautiful surrounds of the Daylesford and Macedon Ranges (DMR) region.
More InformationANZAC DAY – Sat 25
May
Plate Up Ballarat
1 to 31 – Ballarat
A new annual food festival for Ballarat. A celebration of local produce, food and wine.
A full months program of food related events are scheduled throughout May from composting workshops to gin tastings, kids in the kitchen to blokes who bake.
All the details are on the website.
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Booktown Festival
Sat 4 and Sun 5 – Clunes
Each year the Clunes Booktown Festival attracts 18,000 people who enjoy the most amazing whole town bookshop in the world. Think author talks, workshops, live entertainment, a kids village, and good food.
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Australian Chamber Choir – JS Bach’s St John Passion
Sun 5 – St Paul’s Anglican Church – Clunes
Australian Chamber Choir with the Melbourne Baroque Orchestra, directed by Douglas Lawrence, present the shorter, punchier St John with an orchestra of period instruments. Many of the instruments chosen for this work were rarely heard even in Bach’s time creating an exciting and authentic sound.
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Great Trentham Spudfest
Sat 4 – Trentham
The annual Great Trentham Spudfest attracting around 6,000 people will again bring all the fun and games to take over the town. This festival is a wonderful way to celebrate the spirit of the community and recognise Trentham’s potato-growing heritage. With games, tours, produce, stalls, music, food, displays and of course spuds!
10am-4pm, free
More InformationMothers Day – Sun 10
Lavandula Autumn Harvest Festival
Sun 19 – Shepherds Flat
Lavandula’s Autumn Harvest festival is a celebration of the land, the people who work with it and, of course, the bountiful harvest.
In true festival spirit there will be music, rural demonstrations, artisan stallholders, activities for the kids, tours of the original stone farmhouse, great food (wood-fired oven, BBQ and festival-sized paella) and acres of gardens and grounds to explore. A great day for the whole family.
$2-$6. Dogs welcome on leash.
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Beccy Cole with Libby O’Donovan – The Palais
Sun 26 – Hepburn Springs
Spend your Sunday afternoon with 9 times Golden Guitar award winner Beccy Cole and guests.
$35, show starts 3pm
More InformationJune
Woodend Winter Arts Festival
Woodend
The annual Woodend Winter Arts Festival brings together Australian and international artists, performers, authors and commentators for the Macedon Ranges’ premier arts festival.
More InformationQueens Birthday Holiday – Mon 8
July
Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival
Castlemaine
Dates announced closer to event.
The Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival (C-Doc) is an annual three day event held featuring a world class program of films showcasing a series of fascinating worlds populated by even more fascinating characters. A curated program featuring best of feature-length documentary films globally and showcases Australian film makers.
More InformationAugust
Words in Winter
DATES TBC – Daylesford and District
Founded in 2002 Words in Winter is an annual literary and arts festival held in August each year in Daylesford, the Hepburn Shire and surrounding districts.
It is a celebration of words, stories and ideas in all their forms shared by locals and visiting presenters through readings, poetry, theatre, music, talks, workshops, visiting authors, and exhibitions.
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Antique and Vintage Fair – Kyneton town Hall
DATES TBC – Kyneton
Antique and Vintage Fair held annually on the first weekend in September, Friends of the Kyneton Museum will host this special fundraising event. Many well-known dealers will be there. The Kyneton Antique and Vintage Fair is the major fundraiser for the Friends of the Kyneton Museum, and partnering with the Rotary Club each year makes it a great community event.
September
Fathers Day – Sun 6
Kyneton Daffodil and Arts Festival
The includes favorites such as Kyneton’s Festival of One Act Plays, the Antique and Vintage Fair, Ferret Racing, Buskers, Open Gardens, Scarecrow displays, the Spring Flower Show and the continuation of the recently added Kyneton Dog Dash.
The Daffodil Art Prize and the Art Photography Prize will be exhibited throughout the Festival and a host of local galleries and studios will open their doors to display the work and practice of our diverse local artists.
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White Night – Ballarat
White Night Ballarat invites visitors and locals to make their journey around Ballarat’s iconic buildings, cultural institutions and streets, in celebration of reclaiming and reimagining the city through projection, installations, performance and music.
More InformationAFL Grand Final Holiday – TBA
October
Kyneton Music Festival
2020 DATES tbc – Kyneton
Kyneton Music Festival is an annual, locally conceived festival featuring a great line up of Australian music. Always an excellent line up. Not to be missed if you love your Australian indi music.
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La Primavera Festival – Lavandula
2020 dates tbc – Shepherds Flat
La Primavera Festival is a celebration of spring, and part of a time-honoured tradition of welcoming the new season of bloom. There will be musicians, rural demonstrations, artisan stalls, pony rides, puppet shows, tours of the original 1860s stone farmhouse and plenty of great European-style food including a festival-sized paella, an Italian barbecue and the soon-to-be world famous pizzas straight from the wood-fired oven. Come and say hi to the farm animals or take a relaxing stroll through the gardens.
$2 – $6
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Swiss Italian Festa – Hepburn Springs
Next event 2020
Over a five day period the people of Hepburn Springs and Daylesford show off to their neighbours and the wider community of Victoria, their pride in the strong links to the Swiss and Italian settlers of the district in the 1850’s
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Castlemaine Festival of Gardens
Next Event 2020
Every two years, in Melbourne Cup Week, a selection of gardens are opened for your enjoyment. As always there is a variety of gardens, from grand and historical gardens to small cottage plots and gardens which will intrigue and inspire.
More InformationNovember
Kyneton Cup
DATES TBC
A Marquee event and public holiday in Kyneton, forming part of Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival. This event day attracts people from all over Australia and other parts of the world, who now attend this day each year as part of their Melbourne Cup Week activities.
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Creswick Garden Lovers Weekend
dates tbc
This annual community event is organised by Business & Tourism Creswick Inc. All profits are used for local Creswick projects. We invite you to visit the scenic, historic Central Goldfields Region of Victoria and see an array of diverse private gardens, iconic commercial gardens and nurseries, and more.
$5 entry
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Budburst Food and Wine Festival
dates tbc – Macedon ranges
Budburst is the regions number one food and wine festival where mainly small and family owned wineries open their doors. Explore and experience the diversity of wine styles grown and vinified across this outstanding winemaking region.
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Kyneton Agricultural Show
dates tbc – Kyneton
Carnival Friday Night 5.30 – 10.30 and Show Day Saturday
A classic country show with rides, pets, farm animals, craft tent, show bags and all the regional produce, art and cooking prizes. There is a ute muster, Friday night fireworks and plenty of entertainment.
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Clunes Agricultural Show
dates tbc – Clunes
In its 159th year. Horses, utes, homecrafts and a grand parade. One of the turn-out events in Clunes.
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Malmsbury Village Fayre
DATES TBC – Malmsbury
The annual Malmsbury Village Fayre, a fun day full of festivities in the lush Malmsbury Botanic Gardens. This themed day outing attracts fun and family and always manages to surprise and delight with something for everyone.
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Daylesford Show
DATES TBC – Victoria park, Daylesford
Billed as ‘one of the states best exhibitions’ expect a classic country show day with entertainment, animals, food and of course the show of the regions best produce.
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