Winter Harvest Festival

Winter Harvest Festival

Sat 28 June 2025

The ultimate farm gate event for families and food lovers alike, this signature Eat Local Month celebration proudly showcases the best of the Scenic Rim’s culinary offerings in one delicious day.

Meet local farmers, indulge your taste buds with the season’s harvest, and enjoy live cooking demos from top Queensland chefs. Don’t forget to sample local beer, wine, and spirits, and stock up on fresh produce as you explore 60+ market stalls.

Pack your eskies and bring the whole family for a day filled with fun, food, and country hospitality.

Winter Harvest Festival is the ultimate farm gate event for families and food lovers alike.

As the signature event of Eat Local Month, this authentic food festival proudly showcases the best of the Scenic Rim’s culinary offerings. It’s an invitation to literally eat and drink your way around the region, connect with local producers, and watch cooking demonstrations led by top Queensland chefs—all in one flavour-filled day!

Get ready to indulge your taste buds in the flavours of this season’s harvest, sample local beer, wine, and spirits, and stock up on fresh produce as you stroll through 60+ market stalls.

Pack your empty eskies, gather the kids, and bring your friends for a day full of country hospitality and unforgettable experiences.

Event Details:

Date: Saturday 28 June
Venue: George Street, Kalbar
Times: 10am – 4pm

What’s New in 2025

Support local farmers, enjoy on-site glamping, pre-order a delicious grazing box, and join convenient coach tours from multiple locations. Discover all the new ways to make your Winter Harvest Festival experience even better!

Festival Fundraiser Bag

Support our farmers by purchasing a Winter Harvest Festival bag when booking your tickets. $2 from every sale goes to Farm Angels, helping provide financial assistance, food hampers, care packs, and mental wellbeing support to Scenic Rim farming families when they need it most.

On-site Glamping

Make a weekend of it with cozy, fully-equipped bell tents at Kalbar Showgrounds, just a short walk from the festival. Sleeping up to five guests, each tent includes plush bedding, a power outlet, and various other creature comforts. Limited sites available—book now!

Winter Harvest Festival Glamping 2025

Winter Harvest Grazing Box

Skip the queues and pre-order your grazing box for two, featuring locally smoked ham, Tamborine Mountain cheeses, hand-made pickles and dips from Picnic Real Food Bar, and a Franquette baguette. Vegetarian options and dessert add-ons are available. Order when purchasing your festival ticket.

Winter Harvest Festival Grazing Platter

Group Bus Transfers

Get social and leave the car at home!

Book a tour to Winter Harvest Festival from Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Hervey Bay, or Fraser Coast.

Visit our Visiting Coach Groups page for details.

Demonstrations, Workshops & Presentations

The Homestead Kitchen, proudly presented by Moffatt Fresh Produce, returns with an exciting program of live cooking demonstrations. Join Scenic Rim Food Ambassadors Alison Alexander, Elliot Platz, Richard Ousby, Glen Barratt, and Caz from Scenic Rim Cooking Classes as they share their expert tips, techniques, and passion for cooking with the region’s freshest seasonal produce.

Beyond the sizzling kitchen action, immerse yourself in the heart of the Scenic Rim’s food culture with interactive workshops led by local producers and flavour artisans. Discover the secrets behind brewing, distilling, and event growing your own gourmet mushroom.

Throughout the day, don’t miss the chance to meet our farmers and artisans and hear their stories live at the 612 ABC Radio Brisbane Producers Stage. Stay tuned for more exciting details coming soon!

Demonstration Program

With MC Caz Osborne, Scenic Rim Cooking Classes

Auslan Interpretation Provided

🍝 10:30am – Pasta Masterclass: Enhanced by Local Flavours

Join Richard Ousby for a pasta masterclass that celebrates the region’s bounty. Learn the fundamentals of making fresh pasta from scratch, then discover how local produce can elevate these simple shapes into a true highlight of seasonal cooking.

🥣 11:30am – The Produce Takes Centre Stage: Fassifern Valley Soup

Alison Alexander celebrates the Winter Harvest with a warming Fassifern Valley Soup, featuring the hero ingredient beetroot and a bounty of local valley-grown vegetables. Discover how to let fresh, local produce shine in your kitchen with simple, time-honoured techniques that celebrate the season.

🌽 12:30pm – In Season: A Winter Twist on Sunday Roast

Elliot Platz brings a fresh take on the classic Sunday roast, featuring Wattleseed and Pepperberry Spiced Beef Flank alongside a roasted heirloom tomato salad with camel feta and truffle oil. Discover how local ingredients and creative twists can elevate your winter table.

🥐 1:30pm – Pastry Perfect: Finished with the Region’s Best

Discover the secrets to light, airy pastries and sponges with Glen Barratt, then watch them come to life with a Scenic Rim twist. From rosella jam to edible blooms and local brittle, this is pastry elevated by the region’s finest.

Workshop Program

Add on a workshop when you purchase your Winter Harvest Festival ticket:

🍄 10:15am & 11:30am – Grow Your Own Mushrooms with Scenic Rim Mushrooms

Learn how to grow mushrooms at home using a Scenic Rim Mushrooms grow kit (supplied as part of the workshop). Suitable for primary school aged children through to adults.

🍻 12:45pm – Boxer Brewing Co Tasting Table

Sample a selection of Boxer Brewing Co.’s finest craft beers alongside a selection of locally made grazing goodies. A relaxed and flavourful tasting experience.

🥃 2pm – Australian Botanical Liqueur and Spirit Tasting Experience with Tamborine Mountain Distillery

Guided by master distiller Gordon Chalmers, enjoy a curated tasting of liqueurs and spirits with native bush flavours, and a special take-home treat.

ABC Producers Stage Program

🎤 10am – Music by Stelle

🍯 10:30am – Supporting Local Producers with Loretta Ryan and joined by:

  • Tash Johnston, Farm Angels
  • Jason Roebig, Bee All Natural
  • Robert Hinrichsen, Kalfresh

🎤 11am – Music by Stelle  

🐪 11:30am – Producers Creating Diverse Product Ranges with Loretta Ryan and joined by:

  • Paul Martin, Summer Land Camels & Katharina von Heusinger, The Golden Bone Bakery
  • Darren Stewart, Cauldron Distillery
  • Rachel Watkins, Elderflower Farm

🎤 12pm – Music by Stelle

🥕 12:40pm – Focus on the Farmers with  Alison Alexander and joined by:

  • Steve Moffatt, Moffatt Fresh Produce
  • Theresa Scholl, Valley Pride Produce

🎤 1pm – Music by Nicky Convine

🥃 1:30pm – Interesting Stories Behind the Produce with Craig Zonca and joined by:

  • Ambre Whatley, Eden Seeds
  • Tom Drewett, Loborn
  • Helen Roebigg, Vanbery Jam Co.

🎤 2pm – Music by Nicky Convine

🎤 3pm – Music by Nicky Convine

Market Stalls

Fill up your eskies as you explore over 60 market stalls offering fresh seasonal produce, local wines, beers and spirits, cheeses, meats, and more. Alongside these culinary delights, you’ll find a variety of handcrafted goods and local creations, all crafted by our region’s skilled artisans.

Kids Activities

Designed specifically for the youngest festivalgoers, the festival offers a range of fun and educational activities for children from creative crafts and sensory play to planting veggie seedlings and meeting friendly farm animals. 

Little adventurers can play, learn, and explore the magic of the harvest season through hands-on experiences at every turn.

Sprouts Play Patch

Sprouts Play Patch is a vibrant, hands-on area bursting with fun, farm-themed activities. Packed with interactive agricultural and food-inspired experiences that are both educational and entertaining:

  • Animal Crowns – Create your own farm animal crown to wear as you explore the festival.
  • Veggie Stamping – Use real veggies to stamp and print colourful artwork with your family.
  • Sensory Kitchen – Whip up pretend meals in our sensory kitchen—fun for little chefs of all ages.
  • Farmyard Playdough Construction – Build your own farmyard scene using playdough, toy animals, and craft materials.

Get Growing with Urban Utilities

At the Urban Utilities marquee, kids can plant their very own lettuce, parsley, cherry tomato or rocket seedlings—sourced locally from Jasmine Urban Farm. With guidance on how water helps plants grow, they’ll be able to care for their new seedlings at home.

Other Family-Friendly Activities

Families can enjoy a variety of fun activities across the festival grounds, including:

  • Allclass Kubota Tractor Play Area – life-size tractors and machinery to explore, along with pedal powered equipment
  • Peak Patch Animal Farm – cuddle goats, lambs, chickens, calves, piglets, ducklings, geese and more!
  • 10am & 12:30pm – Moffatt Fresh Vegetables Carrot Tossing
  • 11am Junior Tractor Pull Competition – details below
  • Plus face painting and more!

Live Music, Food and Drink

Picture a perfect day out celebrating our region’s flavours with a range of delicious ready-to-eat options, including BBQ’d local beef and corn, aromatic Indian Dosa, wood-fired pizza with seasonal toppings, and Spanish paella cooked by Scenic Rim Food Ambassador Javier Codina, complemented by local wines, beers, and spirits.

Live music performances by Ross Weber and The Paper Lane Band will provide the perfect soundtrack to a day of delicious discovery and celebration of local food and drink. 

Tractor Pull Competition

Watch local teams take on a 10-tonne tractor in a fierce competition to win cash prizes for their community groups.

Catch the showdown between the butcher, farmer, and Defence teams as they battle to reclaim the title from last year’s champs, Kalfresh Vegetables.

Celebration of Lost Culinary Arts

This event will honour the pioneers of local food preparation and preservation in the Scenic Rim, celebrating the women who grew and preserved food for their families long before era of refrigeration and supermarkets.

Attendees will learn about traditional methods of bottling, pickling, and preserving, and explore a range of locally made jams, marmalades, and relishes. It’s a day to connect with the region’s culinary history and stock up on homemade goods to take home.

Demonstration Program

Auslan Interpretation Provided

10am – Simple Seasonal Staples with 612 ABC Radio Brisbane presenter Alison Alexander

Alison Alexander shows how to make creamy labneh, vibrant broccoli pesto, and a zesty salsa verde – simple, fresh accompaniments that honour the everyday kitchen skills once shared between neighbours and written into well-worn recipe books. Learn how to turn local, seasonal produce into vibrant table staples.

11am – Sourdough Starter Know-How with Sally Peach & Denise Sembach, joined by 612 ABC Radio Brisbane presenter Craig Zonca

Sally Peach & Denise Sembach share their expertise on building and caring for a sourdough starter. Discover the secrets to a healthy, active starter and set yourself up for delicious sourdough baking at home.

12pm – Handmade Salves and Home Remedies with Amanda Palmer from Comfrey Co

Amanda shares the old ways of using plants from the garden to make simple, everyday remedies. Drawing on traditional knowledge, she demonstrates how to create a healing salve using just three ingredients. Amanda’s passion for herbal remedies is rooted in her experience growing comfrey and crafting natural products, reflecting a commitment to preserving these time-honoured practices.

1pm – Sauce Making and the No-Waste Kitchen with Morgan Fuery from The Drunken Farmhand joined by 612 ABC Radio Brisbane presenter Loretta Ryan

Morgan shares his approach to making sauces from scratch using seasonal produce and time-honoured methods. Learn how to make the most of what’s available, stretching ingredients further, and preserving flavours.

2pm – Bottling the Season with Kerry Owen

Kerry demonstrates how to bottle fruit at home using simple, reliable methods. With a focus on additive-free preserving, she shares how this age-old practice can still fit into today’s kitchen – one jar at a time.

Stalls & Displays

Hall Displays

  • Templin Museum – display of old culinary equipment, wares and utensils.
  • Panorama Motorcycle Museum Roadvale – display of old kitchen items.
  • Kerry Owen – display of her personal collection of vintage to modern electric Fowlers Vacola preserving units, with jars and preserving utensils, along with original recipe books from the Kalbar Potato Festival and the Country Women’s Association.

Hall Stalls

  • Amanda Palmer – Comfrey Co. Boonah Qld – comfrey salves made from 100% organic, chemical/pesticide free, locally grown and produced.
  • Local artist, Katrina Goldsworthy – lost culinary arts inspired original artwork available for sale as prints, tea towels and tote bags.
  • Denise Sembach – Sourdough Starter Kit’s available for sale and will provide sauerkraut and sourdough tastings.

Garden Stalls

  • Boonah Country Women’s Association – homemade baked goods, jams and preserves.
  • Coleen Benstead – homemade rosella jam, citrus marmalades and citrus butters.
  • Ingrid Bond – homemade sweets (including Rocky Road and Chocolate Coated Ginger), jams and relish.
  • Lizz Hills – The Cottage Collective – display of kraut crocks made on Tamborine Mountain, along with homemade sauerkraut, spicy Kim Chi, brown rice Miso, Kombucha and lime Kefir.
  • Morgan Fuery – The Drunken Farmhand – a variety of pickles using an old brine recipe and technique, plus small batch sauces (one smoked over wood chips for 6-7 hours), mulled red wine pears and cold pickles.

Tea Garden Café

The Tea Garden Café, operated by members of the QWCA Boonah Branch, will offer a delicious Devonshire tea of local scones, jam and cream accompanied by a bottomless cup of tea. Pumpkin soup will also be available.