Winter trees and Wheels at Mary will open for weekend of rally cars

A popular festival is returning to Gympie with market stalls and street food transforming the main street before two days of action-packed racing. Here is all you need to know.

With fast cars and cozy sweaters, the centre of Gympie will be buzzing with winter fun from Friday 21 July through to the weekend.

Gympie’s main street will be full of activity when the Winter Trees and Wheels festival returns on Friday, July 21.

It will be a packed weekend of entertainment kicking off with the street festival at Mary St on Friday, followed by rally events on Saturday and Sunday.

The trees lining Mary St will be adorned with knitted wool decorations, made by businesses, schools and community organisations.

There will be plenty to see and do with street food, live entertainment, cafes and bars as well as 100 rally cars on display, fire twirlers and more.

Following Friday night’s excitement, the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland will roll into Gympie with more than 60 of the nation’s best rally drivers registered to race.

The rally will serve as the third round of the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship, with 30 crews registered in the event.

As well as the rally crews, most of the other crew registered for the event are also entered in the KickAss Motorsport Australia Queensland Rally Championship.

The rally will take place in and around the forest of Gympie and continue until Sunday afternoon, July 23.

Over the two days, the rally drivers will tackle more than 200 kilometres across 14 stages.

Spectators can watch the rally from two viewing points.

Saturday’s viewing point will be at the Imbil Stage and will be available at 10.40am and 3.50pm.

Two viewing points located on either side of the Brooyar East road, will be available on Sunday at 8.25am and 11.55am.

A Rally Queensland spokesman said fans can also see the cars up close at the KickAss Rally Village at the Gympie Showgrounds and at the Wheels on Mary Festival.

“Friday’s festival is the official precursor to the rally, where every vehicle will be assembled in the heart of Gympie on Mary Street, giving fans the chance to meet the teams and drivers,” they said.