Part carnival, part market, a new event by Aussie NightMarkets is bound for Shellharbour. Image: Aussie NightMarkets Facebook.
The Illawarra’s dialling up the fun, the quirky and the downright unexpected this week.
From a high-octane rodeo to a whodunnit in a brewery, an art-meets-music festival to a birthday bash on the beach track, there’s something for every kind of play.
Theatre gets wild, dogs take centre stage, and even your local park becomes a party zone.
Whether you’re into artsy vibes, live chaos, market treasure hunts or just need a laugh (Umbilical Brothers, anyone?), you’re in the right place. Here’s what not to miss this week.
Multiple Days
Following its inaugural success in 2023, the OpenField Arts Festival is back to activate Berry’s art scene. Image: OpenField Arts Festival Facebook.
OpenField Arts Festival
When: Friday 13 to Sunday 15 June, various times
Where: 19 Alexandra Street, Berry
Cost: Various | Book via OpenField.
OpenField is a new multidisciplinary arts festival to be held across four days in the charming town of Berry. A largely free event, it brings together a showcase of contemporary art in and around the town in unique non-museum venues including halls, community spaces and natural reserves. The program will include other events such as performances, talks, live music and a pop-up cinema. Events cater to all ages, so grab your friends and family and head over to picturesque Berry.
Dog People
When: Thursday 19, Friday 20 and Saturday 21 June, 7:30 to 9 pm
Where: Bruce Gordon Theatre, IPAC, 32 Burelli Street, Wollongong
Cost: Pay What You Feel | Book via TicketSearch.
Merrigong Theatre Company’s annual artists’ program MERRIGONGX presents Lucy Heffernan’s Dog People, a new musical about dogs and death at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre. Tuning into the “music of dogs”, Heffernan has composed 10 original songs, creating an exciting new work that explores themes of love, loyalty and loss. Using the language of alt rock, pop and love ballads, Dog People explores what it is to be human … perhaps people aren’t that different from dogs after all?
Friday
Play Illawarra, Rotary Fairy Meadow and COORDINAIRE bring us this community event celebrating the power of play. Image: Play Illawarra.
Let’s Play, Illawara
When: Friday 13 June, 3 to 5 pm
Where: Lakeside Reserve, Lakeside Drive, Kanahooka
Cost: Free.
To celebrate the UN International Day of Play, Play Illawarra – by Healthy Cities Australia, in collaboration with Rotary Fairy Meadow and COORDINARE Primary Health Network, is throwing a free community event. The event is designed for all ages and abilities to encourage our community to remember the value and benefit of play for our children and for us. Bring the whole family and dive into an exciting line-up of activities including a silent disco, martial arts sessions, photo play corner, pop-up play for all ages and abilities and smoothies and snags to fuel up on.
Saturday
Take your craziest legs on a run to mark Shellharbour parkrun’s 11th anniversary. Photo: Shellharbour parkrun.
Shellharbour parkrun Turns 11
When: Saturday 14 June, 7:30 am
Where: Killalea Regional Park, Killalea Drive, Shell Cove
Cost: Free | Book via parkrun.
Get ready to stretch, step, skip and strut as Shellharbour parkrun turns 11. This year’s theme is ‘Crazy Legs’. Come dressed in anything wild, wacky or whimsical on your pins, from odd socks to mismatched shoes, fuzzy leg warmers to neon tights and disco flares. Inside-out tutus, painted legs and stuck-on googly eyes are also encouraged, though for safety reasons, maybe leave the stilts at home. More than 7500 people make Shellharbour their home parkrun, enjoying the free weekly timed event on what many would call the world’s most beautiful course.
Roselle Stretton has captured the beauty of the road trip in her new exhibition. Photo: Roselle Stretton.
Road Trip Exhibition
When: Saturday 14 June, noon
Where: Cambewarra Estate Shoalhaven Community Gallery, 520 Illaroo Road, Bangalee
Cost: Free | Book via 0402 027 129 or [email protected]
As a newly minted ‘grey nomad’, artist Roselle Stretton along with her husband travelled in a campervan along the open roads of NSW and Victoria. Struck by the rich colours of the land — from the harvested dry stubble and cracked earth to the windswept coasts impacted by centuries of weather — she felt the need to capture the diverse and unique beauty.
“As we journeyed under big blue skies towards endless horizons, my impulse was to sketch the scenes flashing by, and Roadtrip was born,” she said. “Snapshots of landscapes, communities, townships and cities, raw nature and the farmlands of the ‘food bowl’ translated onto canvas.”
The artist invites the public for an official launch and meet-the-artist event. The exhibition itself runs until 29 June during estate opening hours.
Expect carnival vibes at this event. Image: Aussie NightMarkets Facebook.
Shellharbour Winter Markets at Aussie NightMarkets
When: Saturday 14 June, 5 to 10 pm
Where: Benson Basin (next to Stockland), Shellharbour
Cost: $2 | Payable upon entry.
Fall in love with winter nights as Benson Basin comes to life with the Shellharbour Winter Markets. This is an event for the whole family. The space will be activated with gourmet food trucks, specialty dessert trucks, market and craft stalls, kids rides and a jumping castle and sideshow games. For the best value, grab an unlimited rides wristband for the kids for $30.
Giddyup! This rodeo isn’t just a galloping good time; it gives families hope and changes lives. Image: Rodeo 4 Life Facebook.
Rodeo 4 Life
When: Saturday 14 June, 6 pm
Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, corner Crown and Harbour streets, Wollongong
Cost: Book via Ticketmaster.
Get ready for an unforgettable night when the MMJ Rowles Rodeo 4 Life comes to the Gong. Witness the thrill of Australia’s top bull riders in action, enjoy an electrifying performance by country music star Travis Collins and laugh along with rodeo clown Big Al. Don’t miss Lachie Cossor’s Outback Stockman’s Show and your chance to win a share of $10,000 in cash prizes.
Rodeo 4 Life is more than a night of high-energy entertainment — it’s a movement saving lives. Your support directly funds critical transplant research at the RPA Transplant Institute, tackling the urgent need to increase viable liver donations.
The Umbilical Brothers – The Distraction
When: Saturday 14 June, 6:30 pm
Where: Anita’s Theatre, 264-270 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul
Cost: General $61 | Concession $56 | Book via Ticketmaster.
Do you love staring at screens? Are you staring at a screen right now? You should get out more. Specifically, to a show that has an enormous screen smack-bang in the middle of it. The Umbilicals take the energy of live performance and the spectacle of cinema and smash them together into a new show performed simultaneously on stage and on the big screen. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen, and nothing they’ve ever done, and it will blow your mind way more literally than you are expecting.
Thursday
Step into a world of intrigue with Odyssey Theatre’s “Murder You Seek”, an interactive murder mystery set in the cut-throat world of lawn bowls at Seeker Brewing. Image: Odyssey Theatre.
Murder You Seek
When: Thursday 19 June, 7 to 9 pm
Where: Seeker Brewing, Unit 4/1 Industrial Road, Unanderra
Cost: $39 | Book via Odyssey Theatre.
Two rival teams compete for the Callaghan Lawn Bowl Cup – the fiercely fought over and coveted laurel of the lawn bowl world. Will you be a member of the Berkeley Berserkers, the Spring Hill Billies, or one of the local eccentrics? Tensions are high on the eve of the final, but wait! Murder … During the night someone will fall victim to foul play.
In this interactive experience, you’ll become part of the story, taking on a unique character role, and it’s your job to uncover the clues and see if you can catch the culprit … before they strike again.
