Entertainment
5 October, 2025
Festival draws crowds
INNISFAIL and District Historical Society’s Tropical Art Deco Festival has been hailed a huge success. With several hundred people participating in events over the eight days, organisers are thrilled with the result.
“Our ticketed events were solidly booked, with the Sunday Vintage Market a huge success in terms of numbers of people through the door,” said Historical Society president Trish Ernst.
Many people went to a lot of trouble to dress up for events, including Friday night’s Murder Mystery Dinner. Organisers were delighted when tickets sold out so quickly and will hold a bigger event next year.
“I think people are getting into the spirit of the events by dressing up and having some fashionable fun. It’s great to see,” said Ms Ernst.
Festival patrons travelled from all over, with Cassowary Coast residents well represented among the festival goers over the eight-day event, with visitors from Cairns, Townsville, the Tablelands, Brisbane and Sydney, swelling the numbers at various events including the Shire Hall Tours, library multi-media presentations and Art Deco Guided History Walk.
The organising committee believes that the Tropical Art Deco Festival can grow into a major destination tourism event for Innisfail over time with the support of local businesses and residents alike, with participation numbers already growing.
“Innisfail residents must get on board to help our festival grow and be successful. The festival is for the people who live here, but there’s an additional economic benefit for the whole town when visitors come as well.”
The festival organisers are already thinking about 2026 and are keen to hear from anyone who’d like to be involved at committee organising level, host an event or become a festival sponsor. Email tropicalartdeco@outlook.com for further details.
“We’d like to thank the Cassowary Coast Regional Council for their grant funding and the local residents, community groups, performers and businesses who participated in making the festival such a success in 2025. We’re looking forward to doing it all again in 2026,” Ms Ernst said.
Go to the society’s website at www.bit.ly/46yMZVi or the tropical art deco Facebook page to join the festival mailing list, to receive updates and news on events and announcements on ticket sales. If you missed out this year, don’t let it happen again.
Read More: Innisfail