Musicians from all over the country and the world will land on Willunga this weekend (25-27 October) for the annual Fleurieu Folk Festival.

Willunga’s Recreation Park will be transformed into nine stages to cater for the 50-plus acts, plus hospitality areas to keep up the energy of the hordes of ‘folkies’ expected.

The festival is an annual event run by a hard-working brigade of 130 volunteers, led by a dedicated organising committee of 12 and sub-committees.

The music covers a broad range of genres including traditional and contemporary folk, acoustic, Celtic, blues, musical theatre, Americana,  roots and bluegrass. 

Headlining this year’s festival is Felicity Urqhart from New South Wales. The highly-decorated country singer-songwriter has opened for Willie Nelson and the late Waylon Jennings, supported John Mellencamp and Sheryl Crow and toured with Kenny Rogers. She has performed for an American president and shared a stage with local country stars from Gina Jeffreys to Adam Harvey. She also hosts Saturday Night Country on ABC Radio.

South Australian songwriter, singer, guitarist and guitar maker, Don Morrison, will be another festival highlight. He has performed with many of the biggest names in Australian music, like Midnight Oil, Hunters and Collectors, Billy Thorpe, Joe Camilleri, Australian Crawl, Men At Work, Stephen Cummings, Ross Wilson and many more in more than 30 years in music game. 

Joining them are a host of international, interstate and local acts, including New South Wales act Round Mountain Girls; Victorian artists Saoirse, Khristian Mizzi, The Royal High Jnx and The Grubby Urchins; Western Australians Ballpoint Penguins and the ACT's Fred Smith.

The Adelaide Scottish Fiddle Club, SA Celtic Harp Orchestra and Willunga Ukeleles will also be there to entertain.

There will be opportunities for musicians amongst the audience to get involved at Cafe AcousticA (a special marquee for participatory music jams) and elsewhere, including in any of the many workshops throughout the weekend. 

Patrons can also expect dancing, poetry, spoken word and children’s entertainment, as well as local food, wine and market stalls.

A new feature for this year’s festival is a busking competition, with the opportunity to win cash prizes and play a song at an awards ceremony on Sunday. Applications for the competition have now closed.

There will also be a special concert to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, featuring a concert of music and spoken word and some of Adelaide’s finest women singers, songwriters and poets.

The festival kicks off at 6pm tonight (Friday, 25 October) and runs until midnight. On Saturday, it runs from 10am to midnight, while on Sunday it will be held from 10am to 8pm.

Online tickets have now closed but tickets may be purchased at the door if still available.

Camping tickets are available with the purchase of a weekend ticket.

For more information, visit the Facebook event site or the website.

Willunga Recreation Park is located at 9 Main Road, Willunga.