The Willie Smith’s Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival took place in Tasmania last weekend, to celebrate the region’s apple heritage, bring warmth to the Huon Valley and partake in pagan traditions to help bring on a bumper apple crop.
TheShout headed down to Hobart to join in the Wassail, scare away the evil spirits and embrace three days of fire, fun, folklore and feasting.
Festival Director, Sam Reid, said: “We faced a pretty wild and woolly weekend with 75mls of rain over three days but the atmosphere was awesome, with everyone chucking on gumboots and getting right into it – Mid-Winter Fest became the Glastonbury of the south.
“Our 15m effigy Big Willie and giant bonfire made of 10m logs kept the 11,000 revellers warm and a slew of great acts (and a hot spiced cider or two) kept them kicking on into the night.”
Click here to listen to an audio documentary on the festival produced by the Drinks Adventures podcast.