The sixth annual East Gippsland Winter Festival is well underway, transforming the region into a vibrant, glowing playground of art, culture, dynamic live music and deep winter flavours.
Running until July 19, the massive month-long program is entering its peak festival window. With dozens of events still to roll out across local shires, organisers are urging residents and winter travellers to look ahead at the blockbuster line-up slated to define the coming weeks.
The midwinter action ramps up on Friday, July 3, with Food & Fire at Wyanga, hosted at Wyanga Park Winery in Lakes Entrance. This cozy, sensory culinary evening will treat patrons to a steady rotation of roaming finger food and tapas-style dishes cooked directly over crackling open flames. The menu heavily leverages the region’s freshest winter ingredients, paired alongside warming custom cocktails and house-spiced mulled wine.
The following evening, Saturday, July 4, the festival’s signature public art event returns with a cosmic twist for Lakes Lights: Gardens of the Galaxy.
The Lakes Entrance Foreshore will be completely re-engineered into an ethereal, glowing world where families can wander through sprawling enclaves of giant artist-made lanterns, complex projection art installations, and curated soundscapes. The night will also feature a series of roving street performers, including a highly anticipated appearance by the town’s famous, theatrical Lakes Entrance Sea Hags.
Holiday camp meets high energy on Friday, July 10, when Albert & Co in Lakes Entrance hosts the Christmas in July Drag Bingo x After Party. This glittering, midwinter celebration promises a spectacular evening of Drag Bingo, sharp wit, and localised entertainment. Beyond the sequins and laughs, the event serves an important community purpose, with proceeds from the night proudly supporting the Starlight Children’s Foundation to assist hospitalized youth.
Foodies will then want to turn their attention to the coast on Saturday, July 11, for Embers and Ales: The Long Night Feast at Dunetown in Marlo. Popular gardener, chef and television presenter Paul West will helm a Yule-inspired long-table banquet at Sailors Grave Brewing. Cooking on open hearths, Mr West will curate fire-licked courses highlighting premium East Gippsland and South Coast seafood and agricultural produce, with every plate precisely matched with Sailors Grave craft beers intentionally brewed to combat the winter freeze.
To send off the festival in high-octane style, the closing party, That’s A (Festival) Wrap: After Dark: The Last Hurrah, will take over the historic Paynesville Hotel on Saturday, July 18. One of the region’s longest-standing watering holes will host Australia’s explosive blues, roots and rock trio, 19-Twenty, alongside a bill of top-tier local support acts to ensure the sixth annual winter calendar wraps up with a crowded dance floor.
