Light Up Leederville Carnival

Usually a great night out each year.
Less stalls due to poor weather, I think the carnival lacked vibe. Through no ones fault but the weather wasn’t great. Food variety was ok, not as much as previous years.

This was my first time down at the Light Up Leederville Carnival and I was not disappointed! Although the weather was horrible (we are meant to be in Summer right?) there was so much to see and do that I didn’t mind getting my hair wet while dancing at one of the many music stages or hopping between stalls.
The music stalls were fantastic and offered lots of variety from jazz, reggae, djs and even live rap. There were plenty of stalls with homemade treats as well many boutiques along Oxford St open for people to peep into. As always the generous Brownes crew were also out handing free milk & yoghurt to all!
The highlight for me surprisingly was the car design battle they had which saw 2 talented artists showcase their live art on Australia’s fastest 2 cars. a Lamborghini and a skyline! The end results were fantastic. This was accompanied by a crew of talented rappers (I guess that’s what you call them?) who were busting out rhymes on the spot. so talented!
can’t wait for next year!

The only thing that didn’t totally rock at light up was the light occasional drizzle. Apart from that ‘dampener’ I applaud the organizers for putting on such a diverse entertaining mix.
I really loved the central hub of free cookies and free hugs for kindness and the music playing across the stages. We also enjoyed watching (and participating in) all the dancing in the streets! Complemented with market stalls, food vendors and a sideshow for kids the festival had a little something for everyone.
See you there next year!

The Leederville Carnival stepped up an extra star for me this year. It had all the elements of an extremely enjoyable festival that was also accessible to all.
It expanded this year further up Oxford and Vincent streets as well as Carr and Newcastle streets. What this meant is that even though 80,000 people hit the Sunday festival, it never felt overwhelmingly busy.
It had a really fun, family and community vibe without being too family, if you know what I mean. There were a heap of activities for young and old to get involved in.
The biggest highlights? Fireworks to mark the turning on of the Leederville Lights and a this crazy, energetic, laughing crowd that danced wildly in front of the double decker bus to finish the night. It was so so good to see people of all ages just letting loose at the end. Now that’s a street festival.

This was a Great Carnival.
The weather was perfect and there was adequate shade to escape the heat!
Loads of food, drink & gift stalls & plenty of entertainment.
It wasn’t overly packed and there were enough amenities — ie toilets, atms, seats for everyone without excessive lines.
Loved it, will definitely be back next year.

You can’t beat free stuff. And Leederville put on a great show yesterday, making their Light Up Carnival slightly different from all of the others. Although often compared to the cousin up the road, the Beaufort Street Festival, Leederville actually does it’s own thing. Sure, there are the common elements: street closures, food stalls, music, fine weather and happy crowds, but somehow Leederville makes it unique.
There were about 200 street stalls, as well as the variety of eating and shopping houses all open and providing roaring trade for the entirety of the day. It was the Royal Show in one sense, with a kids sideshow alley of sugary lollies, games and rides (I love the teacups!). I’d have hated trying to get some of those kids, scoffing all manner of colourful slushies, buckets of fairy floss and long coloured straps of sweets off to bed that night. There were your collection of «it slices, it dices!», amazing cosmetics that you just can’t buy in the shops because they are that good, hand-​made, home-​made, small producers, treats, gifts and the bizarre. I mean, make a mould of your own hand in coloured wax? Why?
Dog friendly, kid friendly, carefully roped off ‘adults’ area (read: licenced areas), music areas (4 or 5 of them, to be precise), a stage, plenty of kid things, great acts (the Go-​Go dancers were a fave), lots of competitions to enter (I hope I win that passport one…) and tonnes of free stuff. I got a bottle of ‘disco water’. It’s a standard bottle of water, but there is a little flashing light in the bottom of the bottle that will allegedly flash for the next 3 months. Great way to sneak a fridge visit in the middle of the night, without having to turn on the light. Except that I just want to get down and boogie.
Put the event in your diary for next year. It’s sure to be repeated.