The Secret Garden Festival is a 48-hour forest-themed dress-up festival located in Sydney. The festival provides music as well as small parties, plays, comedy, games and art. With over 5,000 patrons attending each year, the festival has and continues to raise money for charities.[1]
Secret Garden is located one hour south of Sydney. The location is kept secret until a few days prior to the event, when all newcomers are sent an email with the address. It can be accessed via car, or if not there is a bus package available to ticket holders, which leaves from Central station.
All proceeds made at Secret Garden are donated each year to various charities. Over the past seven years Secret Garden has raised more than $200,000 for charities including Oxfam, The Sarah Hilt Foundation and The Girls & Boys Brigade.[2]
Since its conception in 2009, Secret Garden has grown incredibly. In 2015 Australian radio station Triple J named it "One of Australia's much-loved boutique festivals ... providing two days worth of ace artists at a secret dairy farm".[3] Time Out Sydney also praised the festival, telling punters "This is a good one, though, and worth the mystery. They keep the crowds at a limited capacity, the vibe is loved-up and the site teems with secret pathways and hidden pop-ups housing food, art and entertainment."[4]
Other reviews include:
"A magical, wild and completely creative festival of music and art."[5] - The AU Review
"Pillow forts, giant jellyfish and kissing booths — this independent festival has and always will be built by and for the people."[6] - Concrete Playground
"The most magical of festivals to grace the Australian music scene" [7] - Pedestrian TV