2026 Festival

Wirrina Bluegrass & Acoustic Roots Festival

We’re gearing up for the 2026 Wirrina Bluegrass & Acoustic Roots Festival

Festival dates: Fri 27 to Sun 29 November, 2026

After a fabulously successful and musically marvellous 2025 Festival, it’s time for the Festival Committee to get moving for 2026.

We are a small group of dedicated and hard-working folk—all volunteers. The committee met recently, and each of us has a new ‘to-do’ list, but we can’t do it alone. There’s a lot to do. So once again, we are calling out for:

Volunteers to join the organising committee—If it has crossed your mind to get involved, now would be a great time to get in touch. You will be warmly welcomed!
There’s a lot that needs to be done to promote and set up the festival. The work goes on throughout the year, but we really need more hands on deck as of now. We want to avoid any one person taking on too much and burning out!

Volunteers to help on the festival crew —for set-up, pull-down, office and merch stall helpers, and general helpers for a variety of onsite tasks.

MCs for the main stage and the open mic stage.

Please send an email to wirrinabluegrass@gmail.com Remember, that for 6 hours of your time you will receive free entry to the festival. We look forward to being inundated with your offers to help!

Current committee members are: Thea Taylor, Ian Main, Shirley Jansen, Laura McCarthy, Caz and Kyffin Williams, and Jacquie Sprott (Red Ripple Design).
We greatly appreciate the support of the Wirrina Cove Holiday Park owners and staff who provide the beautiful environment and facilities for the Festival.

Wirrina Music Camp 2026

The Wirrina Music Camp for stringed instruments is happening again in 2026. Announcement and updates are coming very soon. Please email us if you want to receive news about music camp and any other workshops available. wirrinabluegrass@gmail.com

Wirrina Young Musicians’ Contest

The Wirrina Young Musicians’ Contest is also happening again in 2026. Again, watch this space for details coming soon.

Wirrina 2026 Festival program

Applications to play have now closed for the 2026 Festival.

Thank you to all applicants— we are working through them and gradually putting together the program.

2026 performers announcements

We are excited to announce that The Borough Bluegrass Band from Queensland, will be playing at the 2026 Festival!
They are described as “Four Bluegrass obsessives ready to bend your brain with blisteringly fast precision picking, blended harmonies and a serious helping of fun.” Sounds great!
The band are:
Paul Henderson —banjo (Estampa, The ShiningHour).
Marcus Church —guitar, vocals (The Inadequates, Haystack Mountain Hermits),
Markus Karlsen — bass (Present Company, The Company, CO2),
Innes Campbell —mandolin, vocals (Present Company, Zumpa).

The Borough Bluegrass Band

Watch this space for more announcements—coming soon.

Fundraising & resources

Ever wondered how a festival pays for itself? In the case of Wirrina Bluegrass & Acoustic Roots Festival, ticket sales cover the unavoidable administration costs and payments for performing artists —and these are more of a ‘honorarium’ plus travel and accommodation. Longer term, we’d like to attract somewhat larger audiences and be able to pay closer to their actual worth. The marquees, a major infrastructure cost, are sponsored by Wirrina Cove Holiday Park. The Young Musicians’ Contest began because a festival supporter organised grant funding. That funding will run out after this year.

Please contact us if you’re interested in donating something to be raffled during the year to raise money towards continuing the Young Musicians’ Contest for future years.

We are also open to direct financial contributions for the Young Musicians’ Contest, or general festival activities. Please contact us for bank details or to discuss options.

If you have any new constructive ideas to improve and/or fund our festival, we would love to hear from you. The best way is by emailing us at wirrinabluegrass@gmail.com

Sessions

There are many options for sessions and jamming at Wirrina Festivals so bring your instrument/s and join in the fun!

Irish/Celtic, Bluegrass and Old Time sessions, plus spontaneous sessions of any style can be held in the Open Mic tent, the Workshop tent and around the fire pits after the end of programmed events each evening.

During performances

Our performers come from far and wide and rehearse hard to play for Wirrina audiences. Please be aware that jamming, talking and other noise travels far, so we ask you to keep that in mind when near concerts on the main stage and open mic stage. Please turn mobile phones to silent, give your attention to the performers and move away from the stages for chatting and socialising— there is plenty of space for this that won’t disrupt concerts.

Many thanks for being mindful.

Get involved!

There are a variety of ways to participate in the festival.

Apply to play on the program
Bring your instrument/s and play at the black-board tent
Join in the hosted sessions
Attend an instrumental or vocal workshop
Run a workshop
Jam in the session area
Come to watch and listen as part of the audience
Volunteer on the festival crew; six hours of service = one free festival ticket!

Book accommodation at Wirrina

Please go to the Wirrina Cove Holiday Park website to book your accommodation for the Festival—camping, caravans, and cabins available.
www.wirrinacoveholidaypark.com.au
Click on the Upcoming Events page, then scroll down to the Wirrina Bluegrass section. There you will see a link/button to access accomodation bookings.

Reducing waste at Wirrina

We ask patrons to spare a thought for the environment and the volunteers who clean up after the festival. Thank you for helping us to reduce the rubbish. Lets keep up the great effort in 2026! Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Festival merchandise

There will be some new ‘merch’ and old favourites in 2026! We love it when you buy from us because it all goes towards running the Festival.