Calendar of Major Events

The Bangalow community has a well deserved reputation for staging high standard sporting, cultural and creative events. These are some of the highlights:

Bangalow Markets

On the 4th Sunday of every Month at the picturesque showgrounds

Bangalow Market Website

Bangalow Farmers Market

Held every Saturday 8-11am behind the Bangalow Hotel

Billycart Derby

The Bangalow Billy Cart Derby was originally organised by Bangalow Chamber of Commerce to celebrate reclaiming the Byron Street CBD by the reduction of traffic with the opening of The Pacific Highway by-pass in 1994. The Chamber established the event to promote Bangalow in order to counter popular belief that the by-pass would destroy the financial viability of the village.

During the 1997 Derby, Wilson Draper careered into the prize table shattering many of the trophies, luckily he escaped serious injury. The event resulted in a perpetual trophy for the best stack of the day in future years.

The event now attracts a crowd of several thousands, as well as the billycart racers, expert skateboard riders, parades, kids rides and displays food and fun. It’s a major event talked about far and wide. The Sydney Morning Herald reporter Daniel Lewis says this: “In the hills above Byron Bay the art of billycarting rolls on in a passionate and sometimes spectacular fashion. The village of Bangalow boasts a sublimely sloped main street that yesterday came alive with the annual billycart derby. This year it was back with its usual thrills, spills and masterpieces of backyard engineering. Bits of old prams, wheelchairs shopping trolleys lawnmowers, chairs, rope, washing line, metal pipe, fruit boxes and four ‘b’ two are cobbled together that would not look out of place on the apocalyptic set of a Mad max movie. Others spend thousands of dollars making very sleek, high tech carts and come from interstate to complete.”

The Billycart Derby makes a powerful statement about what makes Bangalow tick

www.bangalowbillycart.com.au/

A&I Hall

Home to many of the events in Bangalow.

In the early days much of Bangalow’s community life centred around agricultural developments and in 1911 a new show pavilion was constructed, The Agricultural & Industrial (A&I) Hall.

As well as being used as the show pavilion each year the hall was used for picture shows, dances, roller skating, weddings, bazaars, flower shows and a host of other activities. Today the A&I Hall can be used for events as diverse as the imagination can conjure.

The hall has had a chequered and precarious past it fell into complete disuse and became such a liability that serious though was given to its demolition
Action began in 1991 to start the process of revitalization for the A & I Hall and major restoration works were undertaken in 1993/94. Further restoration and improvements are ongoing.

The Hall has become the focus of Bangalow’s cultural life and now one of the most heavily used community facilities in Byron Shire.

As well as the annual Bangalow Show the hall is home to The Bangalow Music Festival, the birth place of the BASC Film Festival, the zany Cabaret Da Desh, The Starlight & Flickerfest Festivals, A popular venue for weddings, concerts, conferences and shows it is truly a much loved facility in our community and an iconic feature of the village.

Bangalow Music Festival

Started in 2002, the Bangalow Music Festival attracts both performers and audiences from around Australia and the world. Time and again, some of the world’s most outstanding musicians and composers are drawn to return to this iconic event, which includes a concert especially for the local community. The 2008 Bangalow Music Festival was streamed live around the world on the internet.
                      “The amazing acoustics we discovered in the A & I Hall was the supreme icing on the cake when we decided to proceed with the festival in 2002. As a performer who has played concerts from coast to coast in Australia, I consider the A & I Hall to be unique in its setting and acoustic quality.”     Paul Dean, the artistic director of the Bangalow Music Festival

Visit the website

Bangalow Show

Over the years a lot has changed around Bangalow but 'the Show' is still a high point on Bangalow's calendar of events. Every year it goes from strength to strength. Apart from the displays of livestock, poultry, cooking and handicrafts etc, visitors to the Show can be entertained by racing piglets wearing sequined outfits, the famous "Ironman" event, horse events, a shopping race, cutting events and fabulous fireworks.

As the local community has changed over time, the Show has adapted and now features the best of the "old" and the new. Each year entry numbers continue to increase across the board....so bring in your animals, cooking, art & craft, farm & garden produce and your sense of community and fun.

There is surely something for everyone - so get involved in your local show.

To find out how - go to the Bangalow Show website