Medieval hordes meet Dr Who at Ironfest 2013 on April 20 & 21 at the Lithgow Showground. Last year celebrated the end of the Mayan calendar, but we're all still here so Ironfest will re-live another year to embrace the theme Time Travel on April 20 and 21.
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Now in its 14th year, the annual ‘arts festival with a metal edge’ was the brainchild of artist/sculptor Macgregor Ross, who first held it in 2000 to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the birth of steel in Australia at Lithgow.
About 400 people attended.
Today Ironfest attracts more than 14,000 people and is recognised as an event of state significance supported by Blue Mountains Lithgow & Oberon Tourism, Destination NSW, Lithgow City Council, Delta Electricity and a host of smaller supporters.
Ironfest celebrates working and playing with metal, bringing together artists, designer makers, blacksmiths, performers of all kinds, musicians, historical re-enactors, machine enthusiasts and hobbyists from around the world.
This year, The Doctor (aka Luke Sanders) has slipped through time and tides to parachute himself into the midst of the most important time travelling event this side of the Milky Way.
Will he be able to keep the peace when rampaging medieval hordes encounter the genteel Napoleonics? What will hold back the cosmic storm troopers when they stumble upon the contemporary RAAF balloon? Will The Doctor be able to prevent a reinvigorated and reinvented Red Baron from dropping fire and destruction on an unwitting festival crowd of blacksmiths, artists, stalls, musicians and dancers, cos-players and steampunkers? There's only one way to find out.
The time machine doesn't just travel into the future and Ironfest is probably best known for its living history re-enactments and characters from the past, the thrill of the St Georges Day Jousting tournament and the Battle of Lithgow by the Australian Napoleonic Association featuring infantry.
And let's be honest, what better way to attract a crowd than with the aroma of gun powder, the dull clang of iron and plenty of costumed damsels very much not in distress. Ironfest will be held at the Lithgow Showground, George Coates Ave, Lithgow, on April 20 and 21.
Tickets: Base/gate single day $35 adults, $30 concession, $25 children, $95 families; two-day weekend $55 adults, $45 concession, $35 children, $140 families. Details and ticket purchases: www.ironfest.net.
Arts Sunday is your extra dose of arts news, artist profiles and photo galleries from the NSW Central West, brought to you by Arts OutWest and Fairfax. Arts Sunday is published online on the first Sunday of the month. If you’ve got a story to share contactartsoutwest@csu.edu.au
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