A packed calendar
Townsville events
For a regional settlement of just 180,000 people, Townsville is punching above its weight when it comes to events.
The north Queensland city, which is 1500 kilometres by road from the nearest state capital, plays host to dozens of occasions every year from sports meetings and musical festivals to culinary carnivals and cultural encounters.
The V8 Supercars visit every year, the North Queensland Cowboys play regular home games during the NRL season, the Townsville Fire perform during WNBL competition, Magnetic Island Race Week is an annual regatta bringing yachts and crews to town, and the best bull riders make a pilgrimage north for the PBR Iron Cowboy.
An already busy sporting calendar will be a little more crowded during the next few months with Townsville hosting Rugby League World Cup matches on October 28 and November 5 and preliminary rounds of the 2018 Commonwealth Games basketball competition between April 5 and 10.
The city is also home to the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, which celebrates its 27th anniversary this year. The festival is the largest meeting of its kind in Australia, attracting more than 40 artists from around the world to perform.
The festival’s executive director, Justin Ankus, says it’s the agreeable winter weather, and 320 days of sun every year, that make Townsville an ideal place for the festival.
“The winter months are events season in Townsville,” he says.
“Winter in the tropics is the best time of year, the high humidity of summer has gone and average daily temperatures have fallen to a pleasant 25C with mild evenings. Blue skies are plentiful with rain seldom seen, and all this proves to be a boon both for event goers and organisers.
“Aside from the opportunity to hear world-class musicians in world-exclusive performances at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music the beauty of the region, its proximity to rainforest and reef, and the perfect weather in the winter months make it an unbeatable proposition,” he says.