Every second year in April, the region hosts the Barossa Vintage Festival – South Australia’s largest regional festival and Australia’s longest running wine festival.
Held less than an hour from Adelaide, South Australia, the event has been known to attract more than 70,000 people to the Barossa.
The Barossa Vintage Festival celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2023, with a blockbuster program of 75 events.
In addition to a vast array of wine tasting experiences and masterclasses, the program also included the Barossa Made Market, Barossa Wine Auction, art exhibitions, concerts, cooking demonstrations and plenty of activities for the whole family.
The centrepiece of every celebration is the Vintage Festival Parade, which was introduced at the second festival in 1948.
Locals and visitors of all ages line the 8 kilometre parade route from Nuriootpa to Tanunda to view floats decorated and presented by local businesses, wineries and community groups.
Located in Tanunda, the Barossa Vintage Festival Hub showcases the best of the Barossa’s proud winemaking history, while also highlighting the region’s thriving food, beverage and hospitality sectors, as well as its vibrant arts culture.
One of the more unusual but ever-popular features of the Barossa Vintage Festival is the Scarecrow Trail, where characters made of straw pop up among the vines and at cellar doors. In 2023 there were almost 90 scarecrows on display right across the region, including Pinocchio, Minions, Humpty Dumpty and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Photo courtesy of Tourism Barossa Inc.