Geraldton’s Sunshine Festival, WA’s oldest running regional festival, ready for another year of tradition

On August 21, 1959, the inaugural Sunshine Festival was staged in Geraldton and it quickly cemented itself in the city’s calendar and consciousness, becoming WA’s longest running regional festival. This Sunday, the festival will celebrate the 62nd year of local community spirit, largely run by volunteers which festival chair Ian Fisher said made the entire operation possible. The special event is now a shared memory for many generations of Geraldton residents, and this year the festival comes back after a three-year COVID hiatus. Mr Fisher said there was a nostalgic response from the community when the festival was announced to be returning for 2023. “We had heaps of people saying they had great memories of the float parades back in the 80s and 90s — it’s great to hear that sort of stuff, obviously we want to continue those memories,” he said. Though the event no longer runs, the crowning of the Sunshine Festival Queen was open to all unmarried women older than 17 living within Greater Geraldton, Chapman Valley and Northampton. Contestants were only allowed to wear evening or street dresses and judging was based on appearance, speech and general knowledge. The men would fish along Back Beach to Durlacher Street aiming to catch the heaviest fish for a prize while sandcastle competitions, pet parades, arts and crafts, and floats kept the crowds coming back. Mr Fisher said the float parade was the enduring event which was an essential part of the festival’s calendar. “The festival has evolved over the years, it used to be a week long event but now we’re focusing on the family fun day” he said. The Sunshine Festival returns to Stow Gardens on Sunday, October 1 running between 8am and 5pm. The float parade starts at Geraldton Courthouse and will run along Marine Terrace, starting at 3pm.