Adelaide Events

Balloons © Big Day Out

Adelaide’s Big Day Out

Each year Adelaide rocks to the tune of some of the world's top popular music bands, when the travelling smash music festival, The Big Day Out, hits town. Adelaide is an important stop on the famous festival tour, which begins each year in Auckland, New Zealand and then transfers to main centres in Australia over the following three weekends. Star attractions in previous years have included Metallica, The Strokes and The Black-eyed Peas. The festival, first organised in 1992, also showcases Australia's home-grown talent and is regarded as the country's biggest music event.

Venue: Royal Adelaide Showground, Goodwood Road, Wayville; Date: 2 February 2008; Time: 11am; Website: www.bigdayout.com

Carnevale

South Australia’s Italian community come out in force to demonstrate and share their vibrant culture, traditions and delicious cuisine at this annual event. Revellers can enjoy cooking demonstrations, Italian fashion on show, admire cars and motorbikes, watch music and dance shows, and fill up on Italian food.

Venue: Rymill Park; Date: 2-3 February 2008; Website: www.carnevale-adelaide.com

Adelaide Festival of the Arts

The splendid Adelaide Festival of the Arts has become one of Australia’s (and even the world’s) premier cultural events, with its epicentre at the Universal Playground venue. The bi-annual festival draws about one and a half thousand artists in all categories, most Australian but also guests from around the world. The packed and exciting programme features everything from circus performances and symphony concerts to serious drama and ethnic art exhibitions. The first festival was held in 1960, and the event has grown in size and stature every second year since.

Venue: Various venues in and around Adelaide; Date: 29 February to 16 March 2008; Website: www.adelaidefestival.com.au

The Credit Union Pageant © South Australian Tourism Commission

Credit Union Christmas Pageant

The streets of Adelaide come to a standstill on pageant day in November each year, when hundreds of thousands of people converge on the city to watch a procession of fairytale floats weave their colourful and magical way past, heralding the start of the Christmas season. Father Christmas has arrived in Adelaide in this traditional manner since the first pageant in 1933, helped along by South Australia's credit unions and the state government. The pageant is now the largest of its kind in the world.

Venue: The procession begins on the corner of King William Street and South Terrace and winds its way through the streets, finishing at the ‘landing stage’ on Adelaide Central Plaza, at North Terrace; Date: November 2008, TBC; Time: 9.50am-11.30am; Website: www.cupageant.com.au