The Port Fairy Folk Festival is a popular music festival that goes on at a stretch for four days. This festival takes place every year in the historic village of Port Fairy which is a fishing village in Victoria, Australia.
It takes place annually on the very first Friday in the month of March by the seaside. Around 150 crew members and 1000 volunteers are involved in the management of this festival.
The Festival
The very first Port Fairy folk festival was held in the month of December in 1977 and became an annual event ever since. However traditionally it is held on the long weekend that comes during the local Labor Day on the month of March.
Originally the music festival concentrated on the Irish folk and traditional music. However with the passage of time it opened up to various styles and types of music from all over the world. The type of music and songs played here varies from blues to world music. Every year about twenty international performances and ten national performances take place.
This is accompanied by Children’s Program and Street Invaders in the village of Portland Fairy. It is a huge affair and people from various places gather here to listen to different kinds of music. Various national and international artists perform during this four day long weekend. Blues, Folk roots, jazz, Celtic roots, bluegrass, crossroads country and rocks and many more music from all over the worlds are performed here.
The place with the beautiful scenery of blue sky over vast sea adds on the mood of the festival. Various other street plays also take place during this festival. The music festival usually begins on the Friday afternoon and continues till Monday afternoon. The whole village is seen to be in a festive mood.
The stages for performances are built in venues like south end of the Sackville St, St Patrick’s church, St John’s church, St Pat’s hall, Lecture hall, Surf club, Bowls club and many other places. The main location is the Festival Arena which presents 10 stages, craft stalls, food festival and market. The stages include five enormous main stages which are covered, The Wine and Guinness Bar, The Folk Circus, and Lighthouse Café.