Yes, the annual HONK! Oz festival of FREE big band street music is being held in the Wollongong CBD from Thursday 9th January – Saturday 11th January, 2025 and it celebrates its 10 year!
Whilst HONK! festivals originated in USA cities 20 years ago, Wollongong is the first city in Australia to hold a HONK! festival back in 2015 and is the only city in Australia to run the festival for 10 years.
Wollongong’s HONK! Oz Street Music Festival is an outdoor spectacle featuring alternative community bands and related arts.
Irreverent, revelrous and with a somewhat DIY approach to instrumentation and attire, HONK! Oz bands perform to celebrate, to protest and to proclaim. Some play for peace, some for activist causes and community spirit, but all of them play to have fun!
And the festival is FREE with organisers encouraging audience members to join in and clap, dance or even bring their old instruments.
To celebrate the 10 years a sequence of events has been planned.
10 year of Memorabilia Launch: Monday 9th December, 2024
The festival committee has collected a huge range of photos, costumes and video over 10 years that will be on display at Wollongong City Library and launched at 5pm on Monday 9th December. The material will be on display for all of December and January. There will be guest speakers talking about the origin of our own HONK! OZ as well as the history of HONK! festivals.
HONK! Festival Launch: Thursday 12th December, 2024
There will be a free performance by HONK! bands such as the Con Artists and Curious Rendition Orchestra at the Wollongong Night Markets starting around 6pm. Get in the groove and enjoy the sound of a 30-piece band to launch the festival frivolities. There will be information books and brochures distributed to the public and a chance to sign up as a volunteer to support the festival. There are various volunteer roles and the more the merrier.
HONK! Festival: Thursday 9th January – Saturday 11th January, 2025
Check the website http://www.honkfest.org.au/ for events and updates but the festival will be held in the Arts Precinct in the centre of Wollongong next to the IPAC Theatre and surrounds from Thursday 9th January to Saturday 11th January. Over 20 big bands will be playing for free at different stages.
Feature bands will be a 12 piece funky band from Perth called the Junkadelic Brass Band, Wollongong’s own 35 piece street band The Con Artists, Sydney’s 15 piece band the Riff Raff Radical Marching Band, and a variety of bands from around the country.
Current Schedule of bands events include:
- Thursday 9th Jan. 5.30pm : Crown Street Markets
- Friday 10th Jan. 5pm : Port Kembla SERVO
- Saturday 11th Jan. 12.30pm: Grand STREET Parade
- Sat. 11th Jan. 12:30pm : STREET MUSIC FESTIVAL – Town Hall & Arts Precinct
- Sat. 11th Jan. 4pm: Official Festival Opening & Kids HONK
- Sat. 11th Jan. 8:30pm : HONK! After Dark at CENTRO CBD
We are the only HONK! festival in the world that incorporates a “Kid’s HONK” where young children are encouraged to learn tunes to play at the festival and have the opportunity to play with professional musicians. The music is FUNKY, FREE and FUN!
