Kiama’s festival season is back and bigger than ever before, with a raft of new events making their way to our shores over the coming months. Get ready for a plethora of entertainment and events!

Festival season kicked off with a bang and a boogie with the Folk By The Sea festival taking place on 22-24 September at The Pavilion. The festival provided much more than just folk music, with groups like the Kiama Sea Shanty Club regaling audiences with beautiful ballads and The Con Artists got people up on their feet to dance early in the morning.

Folk By The Sea was just the beginning. The next cab off the rank is the free KISS Arts Festival on 20-22 October. KISS will transform Kiama’s Black Beach with a cavalcade of performances from across the art world including acrobatics, musicians, magicians and cabaret.

This year, Kiama will also see a handful of new events like Clearly Music Arts and Wellness Festival on 10-11 November, headlined by Aussie music legend Peter Garrett & The Alter Egos. Clearly looks to put a spin on the local festival with a focus on inspiring the next generation of artists with a series of workshops on industry insights, as well as sustainability, mental health and meditation. 

On 16 December, Kiama will also host the Changing Tides festival with Aussie festival favourites like Spacey Jane, Dune Rats, G Flip, Peking Duk and The Jungle Giants. 

One of the new festivals is an Indian-themed event called Kiamasala coming up on 5 November. The festival is particularly close to Kiama Mayor Neil Reilly’s heart, who has been working away with Kiama Council to make it a reality. Mayor Reilly told The Bugle his plans for Kiamasala, which includes speaking with the Consul General of India to develop a memorandum of understanding to develop a cultural, education, vocational and tourism exchange. 

As Kiama Council moves forward from divesting itself of assets, Mayor Reilly sees festivals and events as a potential revenue stream for Council. He pointed to the Kiama Winter Festival in July, which although wasn’t the primary goal, made a profit for Kiama Council.

“We brought this out knowing it would be more for the community than for tourists, but tourists came out for it and we made money. So it costs the ratepayer nothing, we get money out of it, and we can put that money back into festivals like Clearly Festival and other things.”

Asked what it is about Kiama that crowds in for major events like festivals, Mayor Reilly said it’s simple: the people.

“I think that Kiama has all the ingredients: a beautiful location, it’s within an hour-and-a-half to Sydney, it’s got the beaches and the green rolling hills, but the most attractive part of our area is the people.”