About the Cygnet Folk Festival
What makes Cygnet special?
What makes the Cygnet Folk Festival so special? The answer is simple really - because it's Cygnet! A fifty minute drive from Tasmania 's capital city, Hobart, will take you to the sleepy township of Cygnet. Except, during the festival it's anything but sleepy! You won't find a friendlier festival anywhere in Australia.
Beyond that ... well, for one thing, our venues. All our venues are indoors - and all within a very short walk of each other. The whole village takes on open air festival atmosphere. Cygnet is a great place for renewing old friendships - and making new ones. By the way, the variety of music on offer is also amazing - and then there's our sessions...
As for our hospitality ... Cygnet has three pubs, all offering meals, or you can eat at any of the town's restaurants or takeaway food shops, or at one of the festival foods stalls in the venues or in the festival market. Need somewhere to stay without breaking the bank? There's plenty of room at our secure, patrolled camping ground. And plenty of provisions at the town's two supermarkets.
Come down before the festival, or stay on after. Cygnet is located in a very beautiful area of Tasmania, and makes an ideal base for exploring this unique part of the world when the music has finished. Enjoy the spectacular local countryside between Port Cygnet and the Huon River with scenic views to the Hartz mountains and beyond. Visit some of the excellent wineries/vineyards close by, and sample their produce. Cygnet has art and craft shops, a gallery and a local history museum as well.
The festival is Tasmania's premier folk and world music event of the year and occurs annually on the second weekend of January. It has run every year since 1982, and has grown to a three day event offering the most musically diverse programme available on the Tasmanian Arts calendar. The programme features a mix of talented artists, including local Tasmanians, mainland Australians and International guests. The event has a reputation as one of Australia's finest medium sized festivals. Concerts, workshops, dances and street events run continually from Friday afternoon to Sunday night - and then there's the sessions at the RSL club or in the pub...
A Brief History of the Cygnet Folk Festival
In 1979 Mick Flanagan started the Huon Folk Club. Mick had run a folk club in Sydney before moving to Tasmania. He lived in Franklin, on the other side of the Huon River, so the club met there once a month. The program for a typical night would include two booked acts and the evening would start by each of those acts performing for half an hour. Then there would be ‘Come all Ye’ – a chance for new performers to be in the spotlight and perform a couple of pieces. Then the booked acts would perform for another half hour each and the evening would finish with a session. The concert stye encouraged people to come who just wanted to listen and the evening was a family event. Many of the people had young children and these nights were an important social event for the whole family. The parents would take along bedding, food and drink for the children. The kids were expected to show respect for the performers. They would listen for a while and then settle down. Many of the children who grew up with these sessions went on to become musicians.
The idea for the festival came out of these folk club meetings. The aim was to have a festival that could showcase Tasmanian musicians. At that stage there was a festival running each year at Longford but it was much larger than what Huon Folk Club was planning. They chose Cygnet for the festival because many of the musicians who played at the Folk Club lived in or near Cygnet. The other attraction, of course, was the number of good venues in the town.
In 1982 the first Huon Folk Festival ran from 7 to 9 May. It moved to March in 1983 and to January in 1984. The Cygnet Folk Festival has been held each January every year since then. Many people take advantage of the fact that the Georgetown Festival is on the next weekend. After the Cygnet Folk Festival they have a few days relaxing before heading north to Georgetown for a different festival experience.
In the early years local performers at Cygnet played for a weekend ticket. Only a few Interstate acts were booked and they were provided with airfares, accommodation and a small performance fee. The committee members varied over the years and each festival had its own unique flavour. Generally there would be a couple of dances, concerts, workshops, sessions and a range of activities for the children.
In 1993 the committee decided to take a break but Colin and Alison Petersfield arranged The Jamboree to keep things going. The festival returned in 1994 but it was clear that it would have to change in order to survive. Most of the people who had been in the Folk Club couldn’t afford the time to be involved anymore. Huon Folk Inc continued but the Folk Club had stopped meeting for sessions and concerts. The festival had to grow or disappear. Under the management of the next few committees it became a larger festival. Higher profile acts and more interstate performers are now included in the program and local performers are now paid a small fee for performing.