Get your Gold Rush Festival Carnival program and site map

The Gold Rush Festival Carnival is on this Saturday from 2pm at Lake Alford.

Council has released a program and site map for the carnival celebrations.

Some features of the carnival include:

• a Bootleg Bar where people can sample a huge range of craft beer from our licensed bar area

• more than 25 food trucks from across South East Queensland

• an array of games, obstacles and challenges that will be as fun to watch as they will be to get involved with

• a variety of performances on the main stage and throughout the carnival with live music and roaming performers

• a free circus playground with trained circus professionals to share tips and tricks

• an Old Ways ‘n’ Wares showcase so the community can experience the old-time skills of blacksmithing, spoon carving, lapidary, basket weaving, and bee keeping and many other skills in action, as well as participate in how-to workshops

• various performances by the Gympie Historical Re-enactment Association

• a chance to discover real gold in the fossicking area.

The Gold Mining and Historical Museum will also have free entry all day so people can explore Gympie’s rich collection of stories and exhibits.

At 4pm, finalists of the Nashy’s Big Beard Bonanza compete for a range of prizes and the coveted trophy of Best Freestyle Moustache, Full Beard Freestyle, and Full Beard Natural Champion. Nashy’s Big Beard Bonanza is a hairy tribute to Gympie’s founding father James Nash.

From 7pm, the Gold Rush Fire Event will light up the sky with fireworks and a fire lighting ceremony supported by a range of performances. The event will also feature a large kinetic sculpture, a Chinese Lion Dance, and an array of world class musicians performing an original piece written specially for Gympie Gold Rush.

There will be plenty of parking options available on and around the site.

Nicholas Christopher Drive will be closed on Saturday 19 October, from 12pm – 9.30pm.

The Gympie Gold Rush Festival runs from 18-20 October and includes an evening parade, carnival day, and community picnic. Find out more at www.gympie.qld.gov.au/goldrush.