Camping ban 'death knell' for Kiama music festival

Organisers have walked away from future Folk by the Sea festivals in Kiama, forced, they say, by a town council ban on camping. 

In a letter to Kiama council, festival director Neil McCann said its committee believed festival patronage had declined ''significantly as a result of council's decision not to allow camping over the past few festivals''. 

Eleven Folk by the Sea festivals were held, the last in September this year. 

''It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that 2025 was the last Folk by the Sea Festival,'' Mr McCann wrote to the council.

''Before the last few years, low-priced camping was readily available around the showground and on Chapman Oval. When camping was prohibited by the Council, patronage dropped significantly, as many avid festival-goers see camping as an integral part of the folk festival experience. 

''The Illawarra Folk Club was forced to purchase most available campsites at Surf Beach and Kendall's Beach Caravan parks to provide camping for performers. 

"This resulted in significant extra budget costs for the festival.

''It also meant that many festival patrons were unable to find nearby campsites as most had been booked out by the festival committee for performers.''

Kiama council said the Crown Land Plan of Management, which it endorsed in May 2024, prohibited camping, and that the showground precinct was in high demand. 

Mayor Cameron McDonald said it was increasingly difficult for festivals to absorb rising costs, insurance and marketing requirements. 

''Kiama Council will continue to do all it can to support events through Destination Kiama and our Community Grants programs and we thank the organisers of Folk by The Sea for running their event in years gone by,” Kiama's mayor said.

There were also other issues at play such as inadequate parking and sporting events, Mr McCann said. 

The Illawarra Folk Club calculates that 320 musicians and acts had appeared to audiences from the first festival in 2013. The 2020 and 2021 events were cancelled due to the pandemic. The club calculates the 11 festivals generated $440,000 direct spend at the events and up to $2.5 million in the wider community. 

While the Kiama event is no more, the club's flagship event – the Illawarra Folk Festival at Bulli Showground – rolls onward in its 39th incarnation over three days from January 16 with its regular blend of Illawarra, Australian and international acts.

Illawarra-based acts include Kiama’s The Water Runners, musical comedy duo Rheinberger and Wilson, Americana duo Marco and Rusty, The Con Artists, Penelope Church and the Penny Hartgerink Trio, reuniting Penny with musical collaborators Tess Hathaway and Izaak Blomley after an 11-year break.

Some of Australia’s leading Indigenous musicians will perform, including the legendary Pitjantjatjara singer-songwriter Uncle Frank Yamma and the Stiff Gins, whose fifth studio album, Crossroads, released this year marked the 25-year career point for Australia’s longest-performing all-women First Nations band. 

International acts include French Canadian-Irish trio Grosse Isle, Canadian Richard “Old Man” Luedecke, English clawhammer banjo virtuoso Dan Walsh and Josefina Paulson from Sweden, who plays the Swedish instrument the nyckelharpa.

Early bird festival tickets at www.illawarrafolkfestival.com.au