Knox Festival 2015

Made in Knox!

This year Knox Festival celebrates all things Knox! In 2015 we are looking at you, the livers and lovers of Knox: your products, your business, your talent, your passions, your obsessions. Come join us and commemorate in big and small ways, all the things, THE EVERYTHING that have made and continue to make Knox tick.

Our Knox is special! Indigenous inhabitants of this land called Knox, The Land of Kulin – a place of misty fields and verdant valleys, tree lined hilltops and granite outcrops carved out over millions of years. In more recent times residents have rebadged Knox, The Emerald City.

Knox can also brag The Oppy Bike ride, Hawthorn legend, Berto ‘Robert’ DiPierdomenico, children’s author Andy Griffith and sporting luminaries Jane Fleming and the great Shane Warne (a Ferntree Gully lad), who all hail from Knox.

For Knox Festival 2015 expect a kids performance and workshop bonanza: arts and craft, multiple stages of live music and performance, sporting come ’n’ try clinics, roving performers, live theatre, international artists, local youth performers, cuisine from all four corners of the globe, free give aways and prizes and including the ever expanding Twilight Cinema, fireworks and much more.

This year Channel Seven has come on board as an event partner – a massive coup! This is an extraordinary opportunity for Knox events, sponsors and the local community to get involved. One of the things Channel Seven will be bringing to Knox Festival this year is the younger cast of Summer Bay (Home and Away) along with the winners of My Kitchen Rules. Keep you all posted on this one!

Most importantly, this very special Knox Festival is about keeping YOU, the community of Knox ‘in the centre of the picture’.

Knox Festival highlights for 2015!

• The Great Forest Walk – In anticipation of the new kids playground and play-space at Wally Tew Reserve (soon to be built), this year’s Knox Festival will host a spell binding forest walk/maze – a place of discovery for kids to explore natures mysteries and wonders. This specially curated site will feature art making spaces, storytelling, live performance, mythical inhabitants that spring to life and a host of specially created ‘kids only’ zones.
• Knox in a Box – 300 secondary school kids give their unique spin on Knox in this massive art making competition. Armed with a 20cm square cube and a cluster of set tools and props, each student will revision Knox in a very personal way: rescaling, reshaping, reimagining the places, icons and people we see around us every day, elements we sometimes take for granted or perhaps have never really noticed.
• The Primary Schools Banner Competition as you’ve never seen it!
• Knox Active April – shaping up more like a ‘Knox Olympiad’ with a huge sporting ‘taste and test’ zone hosted by local sporting clubs and niche activity groups.
• Jack in the Knox – a magic box, a stage, a performer, a place where anything can and will happen.
• Savour This – This year we take a peek into the Knox communities mutli-cultural landscape through the lens of gastronomy. We explore food as the gateway to our collective humanity and identity to reveal how each culture leaves its own unique imprints, providing delectable insights into the world and the people around us?
• Knox Island – On a remote island outpost children are busying themselves in readiness for the start of a game. At the countdown of 10, followed by the shriek of a whistle, eyes will sharpen, heels will grip to sneakers, blood will pump but who will have the cunning and endurance and tenacity to take ‘take the flag’, take the title, WIN THE DAY!
• Appearances by the cast of Home and Away and the winners of My Kitchen Rules is another special addition to festival this year thanks to one of our sponsors, Channel 7!
• Inside Knox (film) – An intimate and captivating portrait of Knox is revealed over three giant screens, uncovering the hopes and dreams of its people: their aspirations, the colourful characters, the hidden places they love and the secrets of our great municipality.
• The amazing Oppy Bike Ride is back!

Twilight Cinema

This year’s Twilight Cinema kicks off at 5.00pm with live entertainment for the whole family. At approximately 7.15pm, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME as the audience will share Emmet’s adventure on the big screen in The Lego Movie! This year, the famous Knox Torchlight Parade returns and finishes with a dazzling fireworks display.

New to our program, and in early stages of planning, is The Big Sleepover! Bring a tent, roll out a swag or flatten out some cardboard because after our Twilight Cinema we’re offering the first 100 happy campers the chance to ‘sleep over’. All money raised for this event will support local homeless shelters. Wake up at the festival to a BIG breakfast, then get ready for another day of full-on FUN! More details will be available closer to the event.

Transport options

Parking is limited around the festival site, so attendees are encouraged to take public transport to the event where possible.

The Knox community bus will be operating between the festival and Ferntree Gully Station between 10am and 5pm. The bus can accommodate two wheel chairs per trip, however accessible parking in available on site through the Burwood Highway gate. For bus times, please see the Community Bus timetable.

Families are encouraged to use the Family Drop Off Zone along Brenock Park Drive to drop off and pick up family/friends attending the event. The Knox Festival is a family-friendly event, so attendees are encouraged to leave their pets at home.

Become a stallholder

Stallholder Expressions of Interest have now closed. If you are interested in having a stall at future festivals, please contact culturalservices@knox.vic.gov.au and tell us about your business or organisation.

Performing at our events

As part of Knox Festival 2014, seven flashmobs were performed with over 600 people involved. For more information and to check out the footage, visit Flash Fest.

With a variety of stages at our festivals, there are many opportunites for up and coming talent to be seen and heard. If you are interested in being involved at any or all of our festivals and events, please contact the Festival and Events team at culturalservices@knox.vic.gov.au.

Knox Art and Craft Expo

From painting, pottery and papercraft, the Knox Art and Craft Expo showcases many pieces of work. If you are interested in entering a piece of work or would like to find out more, please contact Maryanne Graham at knoxcraftshow@gmail.com. Entries close on Friday 20 February 2015.

Volunteering at Knox Festival

Each year, Knox Festival is supported by a large number of student and community volunteers who help us deliver this event over the weekend. Volunteering is a great way to get involved with your local community, meet new people and learn new skills. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact the Festival and Events team on 03 9298 8000 or email culturalservices@knox.vic.gov.au