00:00I'm here at the 29th annual Beanie Festival here in Alice Springs in Central Australia where
00:08thousands of people are expected to come through the door this weekend and there are just some
00:13crazy and absolutely amazing beanies here including one that I'm wearing right now which
00:18is definitely wearable on the streets and some that are a little bit wackier like this one
00:23there's just an amazing array but I'm here with the organizer Joe Nixon who's been here
00:29from day one Joe can you tell us a little bit about the festival well the festival's grown from a
00:35small beanie party of a hundred beanies from a remote community called Yundamu to 6811 beanies
00:42here in 2025 the numbers have grown we've got 650 beanie makers from around the world who send
00:49beanies into Alice Springs and people just congregate into Alice Springs from everywhere around the globe
00:54to be a part of the Beanie Festival it's just huge and so we've heard that unfortunately
00:59this will be the second last Beanie Festival to be held here in Alice Springs can you tell us a
01:04little bit about why well we've just become victims of our own success really we've got too many beanie
01:09makers too many beanies too many people to fit in the doors we just can't fit it all together anymore
01:14there's just you know it's just no more space there's just no more emotional energy to to hold
01:20the Beanie Festival together so maybe a group of young volunteers will come through and you know take
01:26it to the next generation but at the moment we're going to have to close the doors in 2026
01:31i'm sorry to hear that this year just like every year there's some absolutely wild designs including
01:38one that's been made by a local eye specialist here in Alice Springs that he made completely from his own
01:44dog hair he collected the hair for almost five years and spun it into an owl there's another one that
01:51depicts a massive hot air balloon that someone can wear as art on their head so it's really hoping
01:57that someone does come along and pick up this festival so future generations really can take part
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