50 years of Confest!
ConFest is created through collective effort, and we believe that the culture behind the scenes needs to reflect the care, connection and community at the core of this beautiful festival we all know and love.
Sadly, Spring ConFest 2026 will not be going ahead.
When it became clear that we did not have the organising capacity needed to run Spring ConFest safely and responsibly, we chose to pause and make space for rest, renewal and training. It is deeply important to us that people stepping into key roles feel supported, prepared and confident.
Right now, being alternative means staying true to our values of caring for people over the pressure to keep producing more. We love this festival immensely and will return for Easter ConFest 2027 with excitement, energy and anticipation.
We’ll share more soon about ways to become involved in helping create the next ConFest.
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Statics
Confest 50th year
In those 50 years we have had........
250
k+
Participants over 50 years
80
+
Events held
1600
+
Villages created
30
k+
Workshops held
20
k+
Volunteers made it happen
1000000
+ Smiles
Alternative Thinkers
Workshop your mind, heal your body
Over a thousand workshops presented by Confestors over 5 Days
Community
100%Creativity
100%Collaboration
100%What is ConFest
We are a community of many parts
Australia's leading alternative lifestyle festival
Come along
Villages are the heart of ConFest — vibrant, themed micro-communities created by ConFesters to camp, cook, create, share, and celebrate together. Each one carries its own rhythm and intention, shaped by shared values, culture, creativity, spirit, or pure playful energy. Step into a Village and you’re not just finding a place to stay — you’re joining a living community where strangers become collaborators and moments turn into magic.
Workshops at ConFest are open, spontaneous, and created by you. From meditation at sunrise, ecstatic dance, scientific debate, or something delightfully quirky. Between us we create dozens of colourful, themed workshop and activity spaces around the site, all of them created by ConFesters for our community. It’s a living, breathing program shaped by the people who show up, where everyone is both teacher and student, and inspiration turns into shared experience.
ConFest runs with beautiful simplicity — and that simplicity exists because of the generosity of everyone who shows up (yes, that includes you). From workshops and performances to site care and first aid, everything is created and held by volunteers; there are no paid staff and no spectators, only contributors. It’s a shared experiment in community where participation isn’t just welcomed — it’s what makes the whole thing possible.
The ConFest Market is a vibrant, ethical space where community and creativity come together — a place to support talented makers, browse beautiful handmade goods and cool finds, and enjoy delicious vegetarian food served without single-use waste (bring your own cup and plate or borrow one). It’s not for services — just stuff, food, chai, and connection — a lively hub to swap stories, celebrate workshops, and drift into late-night jams.
Our Volunteers
Our Hard
Working Team
ConFest is entirely volunteer and community created. That means no one gets paid to organise the festival.
ConFest is a lot like setting up a small town for a week and then packing it down again, so most of the skills and understandings we each have from our day to day personal and working lives, are very much needed for it happen.
Everyone adult at ConFest is asked to contribute a minimum of two hours of their time as part of their ticket price. This is part of what makes everyone’s ConFest experience. It also helps to create an active community, a village and keeps ticket prices low.
Join our team
Our Villages & Spaces
Featured Villages
Lots of Villages and spaces to engage in
View all our Villages
Bliss is a great place for those who have embraced ethical eating and for those who are on the path towards ethical eating. But, perhaps. it is even a better place for those who have not yet fully realised that it is possible to eat healthy delicious food without being cruel
Fueled by the creativity and dedication of many volunteers, it offers an immersive experience where people can connect, create, and unwind.
We do our best to create a safe and inclusive space, where everyone is welcome to express themselves, explore creativity, and engage in meaningful connections.
Rather than making enough for one, make enough for others We have a large undercover space for cooking prep and dishes as well as a dining space & chill out lounge Multiple burners, Huge paella pan. Large woks Oven Spit. we have a pantry, of basic ingredients to incorporate into shared meals.
The air fills with laughter as people of all ages throw colors, dance freely, and blur every boundary between strangers.
We have several workshop spaces, a cooking circle and a fire circle. We provide cooking equipment in the cooking circle for peoples use and always welcome contributions of unwanted cooking equipment in usable clean condition.