Alice Springs Beanie Festival brings Australian sporting legends to Araluen Arts Centre

Some Australian sporting icons are set to make an appearance at this year’s Alice Springs Beanie festival – but not in a way you’d expect. Find out more.

Alice Springs Beanie Festival chief beanieologist Jo Nixon inside beanie central at the Araluen Arts Centre, June 19, ahead of the festival opening on June 20. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Australian sporting icons are coming to Alice Springs – with a twist – as a popular festival celebrating beanies returns to the Red Centre capital.

Kicking off on June 20, Araluen Arts Centre is once again chock full of beanies for three days as part of the 29th Alice Springs Beanie Festival.

Beanie Festival chief ‘beanieologist’ Jo Nixon said there were 6800 beanies at this years festival, which had come from all corners of the globe.

Alice Springs Beanie Festival chief beanieologist Jo Nixon. Picture: Gera Kazakov

“We’ve got beanies and volunteers from Canada and Japan and the UK and across the ditch in New Zealand. We’ve got some come beanies from the USA, We’ve got some beanies come from Germany,” she said.

“We’re loved worldwide.”

Punters who make it down to can expect to see some Australian sporting icons – in beanie form – as part of this year’s competition theme “sporting headgear”.

Legends such as Cathy Freeman and Phar Lap are making their beanie debut at this year’s festival, with Ms Freeman’s iconic sporting moments captured in beanie form by Amy James and Alba from Tennant Creek.

Tennant Creek's Amy James and Alba's Cathy Freeman beanie. Picture: Gera Kazakov

In 2017, the beanie festival featured a beanie which was 400m in length, inspired by Ms Freeman’s 400m gold medal win at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Other beanies fitting the theme this year include a giant hot air balloon – which Ms Nixon said is her personal favourite – as well as beanies honouring competition fishing, hiking the Larapinta Trail, tennis, basketball, cricket, and more.

This year's Alice Springs Beanie Festival theme is sporting headgear, with one Alice Springs local entering a giant hot air balloon beanie into this year's competition. Picture: Gera Kazakov

The beanie festival also features beanie making workshops, live music, and homemade food.

“The musos are all lined up, the food stalls are all lined up, the pumpkin soup’s getting warm, the warm cakes are getting made by all the cake bakers – it’s shaping up for a fabulous weekend,” Ms Nixon said.

This year is set to be the second last beanie festival in Alice Springs, Ms Nixon said, who’s “had no time” to get melancholic about the festival ending in its current format next year.

“I’m sure I’ll feel melancholic, you know, after I’m exhausted and lying in bed and it’s all over; that there will only be one more,” she said.

Volunteers hard at work inside beanie central ahead of the 2025 Alice Springs Beanie Festival opening. Picture: Gera Kazakov

“But today, at the moment, it’s just this place is just full of such joy and love and it’s just lovely to be around.”

The festival is supported by the NT government through the major events funding program.

NT Major Events Company executive director Aimee Luxton said the festival “truly embodies the spirit of the Northern Territory”.

“It beautifully connects artists from remote Aboriginal communities with visitors from across the country, fostering cultural exchange and the sharing of skills right in the heart of Central Australia,” she said.