Alice Springs Beanie Festival

I am not sure is beanie is an Australian slang term but here is the Wikipedia defintion of the term beanie. In short a beanie is a type of hat and to my mind the quirkier the better and that is what you get at the Alice Springs Beanie Festival. This year it will open on the 29th of June.

The festival is a community based event which was originally organised to sell beanies created by Aboriginal women but it has grown into an event where Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists share and exhibit together. Everybody and every beanie is welcome and as I say the more creative, the more quirky the outrageous the better!

Hand made beanies have long been valued in Central Australia. They are often colourful and individual in pattern and style. Everyone, no matter who they are, needs a beanie to enjoy the outdoors during our crisp, cold winter nights.

Centralian craftspeople from remote areas and Alice Springs have taken up the challenge to raise beanie making into a distinctive regional art form. Beanies can be given distinguishing characteristics and decorated with seeds, various fibres and embellishments. There is no limit to the shapes, textures, colours and patterns that are evolving. They are ideal for the tourist market, being light and inexpensive.

Every year beanie lovers gather at Witchetty's in the Araluen Centre, Alice Springs Cultural Precinct, to admire the latest crop of hand crafted beanies. There is an air of anticipation as the artists wonder if their creation might win one of the coveted trophies. Local entertainment and great food make the opening a great night out

Because Central Australia now has a national (indeed, international!) reputation for the production of quirky beanies. The Beanie Festival continues to strengthen its links with the local communities.

Thanks to Whip Up for the link

Comments

[desertsky]

I knew exactly what you meant. Beanie must be a general English term. I visualized a rainbow covered one with a pinwheel on top. =)