This year, Cairns Festival will celebrate another landmark year in its cultural history with a 17-day event program spanning arts, entertainment, music, dance and collaborations between Friday 17 August and Sunday 2 September.

Cairns Regional Council is proud to deliver a Cairns Festival 2012 program that truly reflects this region's colourful character and sense of place.

Our Festival team is working to deliver our community with an exceptional event that promises to inspire, entertain and challenge you with local and national artists, while also focusing the spotlight on our own amazing talent.

While there will be many new events gracing this year's program, we are pleased to include the annual highlights, namely Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Esplanart outdoor exhibition of visual ephemeral art, the Overflow FNQ Grand Parade, Tropical Pride Festival, and of course Carnival on Collins. We also welcome what is destined to be a highly anticipated newcomer to this year’s Cairns Festival program, The Village on Esplanade a quirky, vaudevillian, retro-futuristic, sideshow romp. The Village on Esplanade will titillate the senses day and night throughout Cairns Festival.

As we count down to the 2012 Cairns Festival, we invite you to join us on the journey. Help us spread the word as the program takes shape and be part of this great celebration of life in the Cairns Region.

As in any major community event, input from local people is vital and we are calling for volunteers to help make this year's Cairns Festival the best yet. In the meantime, keep following our website and Facebook page to stay up to date with the latest news about your 2012 Cairns Festival.

Enjoy!

Leslie Sparkes
Manager, Creative Cairns
Cairns Regional Council