From humble beginnings in Maleny, the Woodford Folk Festival has become the premier folk music, arts and culture event in the country and this year, Woodford celebrates its 30th anniversary.
Festival director Bill Hauritz has been at the helm from the very beginning. As one of the founders of the event, he says the 30th anniversary is not only a time to reflect but also look towards the future. “For us it’s a special time to look back and pause... but I think we’re using it to make a lot of changes this year with a view to the next decade. So it’s a time to look forward rather than look back, that’s how we’re treating it.”
Established in 1987 as the Maleny Folk Festival, it quickly became a successful, annual event and outgrew its original location at the Maleny Showgrounds. Today, the Woodford Folk Festival attracts thousands from around the globe who make an annual pilgrimage to Woodfordia. “I think we were always very ambitious for the ideas we had,” Bill says.
“Woodford’s about the experience rather than about a line-up.”
“I think in the early days we might have been accused by a few people of living in [a] dream world and it’s probably true, but the growth of the festival in the early years certainly set up a trend that’s continued to this day.
“It’s good that we’re still in the game and still enthusiastic and still going through processes of change. You have to push it because it’s so easy to get comfortable and I look at festivals that haven’t worked over a long period of time and I just see that it works, they get comfortable then it dies quickly.”
After 30 years of running the festival, managing its day-to-day affairs and logistics, Bill is proud of what he and his team have accomplished. “We’ve been very pleased with all the ups and downs over the years, where it’s gone and what it’s looking like; it’s very exciting still and I’m probably more enthusiastic now than I was in the beginning.
“It’s very different from other festivals and we’re probably more dependent on staff and volunteers than most festivals because we’re doing 25 stages and a programme of about 420 acts, and it goes for a whole week – so it’s a much larger festival in terms of logistics.”
With the official artist and performance line-up announced, Bill says this year’s acts comprise a wide and diverse selection of entertainment from music, to street theatre, lectures and workshops. “While there are a lot of names on the programme people will recognise, they probably won’t recognise most of them and I think it’s fair to say what we’re selling is a festival experience; Woodford’s about the experience rather than about a line-up.“Not that we’re apologising for our line-up, we think we’ve booked a cross-section of musicians, performers, speakers, writers and politicians that’s second to none. It’s high quality and what we really want to do and our goal as it’s always been is to give people a fantastic experience.
“I make a joke about it: I say that the intention of Woodford is to… as soon as the concert finishes you’re rushing down to the next tent to catch the next act, and our job is to make it as hard for them to get there as possible. You know, with really great street theatre, a really great atmosphere where you always seem to be running into friends, lovely bars to have a drink, great food – that sort of idea; it’s a festival rather than a series of concerts.”Woodford Folk Festival takes place 27 Dec to 1 Jan, 2016.
