{{Short description|Festival in Northern Territory, Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date = November 2019}}
{{Use Australian English|date = November 2019}} thumb|Alice Springs Beanie Festival, 2013 The '''Alice Springs Beanie Festival''' (also called simply the '''Beanie Festival''') is an annual, community based, four-day festival celebrating beanies in all their forms.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://beaniefest.org/our-story |title=What we do |website=Alice Springs Beanie Festival |language=en-Au |access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>
The festival is held in June each year at the Araluen Cultural Precinct in Alice Springs.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.discovercentralaustralia.com/events/what-s-on/event/99834-the-alice-springs-beanie-festival |title=The Alice Springs Beanie Festival |website=www.discovercentralaustralia.com |language=en-gb |access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>
== Overview == Parts of the festival include:
* Beanie Central; this is where beanies of all sorts, submitted from around the world,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.offtheleash.net.au/features/festivals/2017/06/alice-springs-beanie-festival|title=Alice Springs Beanie Festival|date=2017-06-18|website=Off The Leash|language=en|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> are sold to the public. Approximately 6,000 beanies are displayed this way each year.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://beaniefest.org/get-involved/welcome-beanie-makers|title=Information for all Beanie Makers|website=Alice Springs Beanie Festival|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> * National Beanie Exhibition and Competition; beanies can also be submitted into the National Beanie Exhibition and Competition and, in order to be considered, they must be original pieces and artistically presented; there is also often a theme the beanie makers are asked to respond to. These beanies are then formally exhibited at the Araluen Art Centre and judged for a variety of awards.<ref name=":0" /> This exhibition remains in place for several weeks after the festival.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discovercentralaustralia.com/events/what-s-on/event/99834-the-alice-springs-beanie-festival|title=The Alice Springs Beanie Festival|website=www.discovercentralaustralia.com|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> * Beanie Making Workshops; these are run in conjunction with Central Craft, a not for profit craft organisation,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://centralcraft.org.au/about-us|title=About Us {{!}} Central Craft|website=centralcraft.org.au|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> who run drop-in textile workshops alongside ladies from Pukatja who give demonstrations of hand spinning wool<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://traveloutbackaustralia.com/alice-springs-beanie-festival.html/|title=Why I Love the Alice Springs Beanie Festival|last=Amanda|date=2014-06-23|website=Travel Outback Australia|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> and the Tjanpi Desert Weavers who run basket weaving workshops.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://beaniefest.org/festival-info/workshops|title=Workshops and Festival Program|website=Alice Springs Beanie Festival|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>
The Beanie Festival attracts thousands of tourists to Alice Springs each year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-24/beanie-festival-thousands-head-to-alice-springs/7542712|title=Thousands head out to Alice Springs Beanie Festival|last=Krishnan|first=ABC News: Shuba|date=2016-06-24|website=ABC News|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>
== History ==
The Beanie Festival was started in 1997, on a much smaller scale, with a 'beanie party' designed to create a unique social-enterprise and it was the idea of Adi Dunlop. The festival was inspired by the cold desert winters and existing popularity of beanies with Central Australian Aboriginal people who were already creating colourful and individual handmade creations. Beanies were often decorated with seeds, various fibres and other embellishments.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://beaniefest.org/our-story/training-page|title=Our Story|website=Alice Springs Beanie Festival|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>
Beanies were also picked as a perfect social-enterprise as they are ideal for the tourist market, being light and inexpensive.<ref name=":1" />
The 2020 festival, set for June, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The Festival was next held on 25-28 June 2021.<ref name="alice-beanie-fest-'20-cancel">{{cite web |title=News |url=http://beaniefest.org/news |publisher=Alice Springs Beanie Festival |access-date=5 July 2021 |language=en-AU}}</ref>
== External links ==
* {{Official website|https://beaniefest.org/}}
== References == {{reflist}}
Category:Festivals in the Northern Territory Category:Alice Springs Category:Arts festivals in Australia Category:Tourist attractions in Alice Springs