The St Kilda Festival is one of Melbourne’s most-anticipated summer events, taking place each year in February on St Kilda’s stunning foreshore. The festival showcases the cream of Australian musical talent and celebrates the cultural diversity of the city.
One of Melbourne’s oldest surviving music festivals, the event dates back to 1980 and has entertained around six million visitors. At its heart, the St Kilda Festival is a celebration of and for the community of this vibrant, urban seaside suburb.
Over the years, the festival has taken on many formats; in recent years, the event runs for around nine days and includes three key components: Yalukit Willam Ngargee: People Place Gathering, Live N Local and Festival Sunday.
Yalukit Willam Ngargee: People Place Gathering kicks off the festival, welcoming people to St Kilda with music, dance, children’s activities and lots more in the O’Donnell Gardens.
Over the following week, venues all over St Kilda open their doors to host a variety of local bands, musicians, performers, artists and comedians in a series of one-off and special events.
The event goes out with a bang on Festival Sunday, with more than 60 bands performing across various special stages, as well as extreme sports, dance, children’s entertainment, fireworks and lots of food and drink.
Just a quick tram trip away from all the action, Clarion Suites Gateway is the perfect accommodation for your St Kilda Festival adventure. Experience the very best of Melbourne community culture – and everything else the city has to offer – from Clarion Suites Gateway, the best seat in the house!
