Open Streets

The Nambucca Valley has spoken: “We LOVE Open Streets!” With over 2000 people turning up despite the ominous forecasts & intermittent rain, the February festival felt like a community really finding its home. Moving the festival to spring allows the team to try some new ideas from the local Youth Council: the long evenings will come alive with light & laser installations, fire shows & fireworks, a new
wearable art workshop collaboration with Nambucca Valley Phoenix, Punk Arts Collective & Lifeline. The pony cycles will muster in the laneway & a new offering of inflatables that will have even the adults scrambling to stay on top of. Create take home clay, cardboard pieces for the parade or explore the OzGreen river bug discovery activity where nature lovers can touch, see & explore what lives in our waterways. 

Jazz up your outfit with feather hair wraps, temporary tattoos & face painting. Enjoy the giant bubbly fun across the foreshores & world-class balloon twisting (using eco balloons). There will be sidewalk chalk art for all to add to, the silent disco for a groove or a chill-out session & giant games with heaps of places to sit, eat & relax by the river.

Returning street performer Tyler Impossible is back to crack whips, play piano, all atop his 3-level unicycle & Australian veteran contortionist Bendy Em is returning to the valley to comedically bend & contort her body into mind-boggling positions. The Phoenix All Stars roving performers will be back & you may even see some new characters roaming the streets.

And of course, what would Open Streets be without the food & music! Local food businesses will be open again with their festival menu’s & complimented with the curated street food vendors from across the region. The big Street Stage will host the most eclectic all-ages offering yet & the new River Stage will round out the program with local music, creative performances & cultural experiences.

The music menu features the warm vintage vocals of Amellia Rose & The Collective, bringing their soul & jazz-imbued Blues. Local female-fronted rock powerhouse, Temperate are back again, this year on the big stage just ahead of their first international tour of Japan in October. Winners of Best Bush Ballad at the 2026 Australian Country Music People’s Choice Awards, The Redeemed are bringing their blues-rock grit with a warm country-folk heart, joined by the Valley Line Dancers. Soul’d are an 8-piece funk & rhythm machine, brining a big sound to the dancefloor from the first note.  A booty-shaking celebration of the best songs from some of the all-time greatest acts of our time, they span from soul, funk & disco to Motown & pop classics. Purple Disturbance are an unmissable force bringing their post-punk/alt rock vibes which are equal parts loose chaos & tight precision. An unapologetic & fierce mix of humour, rebellion, & raw emotion, they’ve been one of the valley youth’s top picks for bands they want to see.

This free, all-ages festival is the next in line that is proudly funded by the NSW Government’s Open Streets Program, led by Transport for NSW, in association with Nambucca Valley Council.

What Open Streets Festival Where Wallace Ln + River St, Macksville When Sat 19 Sept Info nambuccavalleyopenstreets.com