Footy, fireworks, festivals (and hot weather): Is this Brisbane’s biggest weekend?

The final hours of winter are shaping up as a massive weekend in Brisbane. As this masthead’s sports reporter put it best: “It will be a hell of a night for a night out.”

Nick Wright’s attention is on the do-or-die match between the Broncos and Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.

“It’s a make-or-break round,” he told me, “whoever loses, essentially can’t make the finals.” (He emphasised the “essentially”, with a narrow possibility for both sides to get through – depending on what happens in other matches.)

Saturday night’s local derby pits the Dolphins against the Broncos.Credit: Getty

With both teams sporting a long list of casualties while vying to keep their finals ambitions alive, the Battle of Brisbane will see sparks fly.

The game starts at 5.30pm, and as it wraps up, the pyrotechnics will be literal – with Riverfire’s fireworks show starting at 7pm.

Entertainment for Riverfire begins at 4pm, with military plane displays from 4.55pm. If you’re heading to the football, or out to watch the fireworks, plan your travel in advance: there will be extensive road, river and bridge closures on Saturday.

Sadly, there’s no public vantage point this year from the newly opened Neville Bonner Bridge.

The bridge officially opened to the public in the early hours of Thursday, before the first staged opening of the Queen’s Wharf hotel, restaurant and casino precinct later in the day.

After years of construction, multiple delays and budget blowouts, the opening of Queen’s Wharf has landed in time for one of the biggest weekends on the city’s calendar.

On Sunday, the Brisbane Lions kick off their 2024 AFLW campaign with a grand final rematch against the Kangaroos at home.

And it is Father’s Day, too, with families set to get together and no doubt take advantage of the unseasonably warm start to spring.

Even if you’re not into football or fireworks, the Brisbane Fashion Festival has just come to a close, and Brisbane Festival is kicking off.

This year the six-day fashion festival included a runway debut from Australia’s richest woman modelled by Olympic swimmers; collections from some of the city’s best local designers; and the launch of an Australian exclusive from the mind of Jean Paul Gaultier.

Now it’s Brisbane arts and theatre lovers’ turn to soak up Brisbane Festival, the annual arts festival that this year includes Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show at the South Bank Piazza.

Models, including Olympic swimmer Shayna Jack, model Driza-Bone at the Brisbane Fashion Festival.

Since its humble beginnings in 1996, the festival of cultural experiences has grown year-on-year, with the 2024 event featuring more than 1000 performances, of which 320 will be free.

Next week, another boost to the city’s local arts scene arrives, with Bigsound, the largest music industry gathering in the southern hemisphere, running from September 3 to 6.

It will feel more like the throes of summer, with temperatures in the mid-30s expected this weekend. But with everything on offer, it’s hard to deny this is Brisbane’s best season.