Has this year’s Bondi Festival turned into a suburban Saturday market

• The Bondi Festival has been running for 40 years.
• Once it was a star event, with an amazing array of activities that were so Bondi.
• This year’s festival is a pale imitation, with lacklustre food stalls and few activities. What has gone wrong?

The Bondi Festival, once a vibrant winter spectacle, appears to be at critical stage in its life.

For those who fondly recall its “heyday” around 2017 – with an ice rink near the iconic Pavilion on the beach, kites soaring over the sands, and a diverse food presence – the current reality feels like a sad shadow of its former self.

The so-called food market is a shanty town of frankfurter stalls, burger bars and the ubiquitous gozleme tent. The Big Wheel parked next to the Bondi Pavilion was the only element of fun in this funfair.

Our visit on a sunny Sunday, raises a crucial question: Is the Bondi Festival, despite its official claims of growth, at risk of losing its unique charm and becoming just another generic Saturday market?

If you read the official website, it’s “an arts festival for all ages, bringing the cool winter vibes to the shores of Bondi Beach. Warm up with the hottest acts and experiences from Australia and abroad – there’s plenty for everyone to see, do and experience at Bondi Festival.”

Yet the busiest area was the ice rink – now, sadly, perched by the road and well away from the beach. One of the most iconic images from this festival used to be capturing the skaters with the famous Bondi surf behind them.

The Ice Rink: From Beach Icon to the Roadside

What the festival says: Official communications for the 2025 Bondi Festival proudly promote the ice rink as a “beachside winter wonderland” and a “festival favourite,” confirming its location in Bondi Park, near the Bondi Pavilion . The narrative is one of continuity and a cherished tradition.

The reality: While the ice rink is indeed in Bondi Park, its current placement behind the Pavilion means it’s now closer to the road than its historical position. This is a significant shift from earlier iterations, particularly in 2011, when the ice rink was literally on the sands of Bondi Beach, a truly unique spectacle that saw 25,000 litres of water frozen into a slab of ice right by the ocean .

This direct, almost surreal, interaction with the beach was a defining feature that set the Bondi Festival apart. For those who remember gliding on ice with the waves almost lapping at their feet, it is undeniably sad that the ice rink no longer graces the sands themselves, diminishing a truly iconic element of the festival and moving it further from its unique beach identity.

Food: From “curated celebration” to gozleme stalls?

What the festival says: Official plans for 2025 highlight a “new offering for the foodies-at-heart: the Festival’s Blue Sky Markets,” scheduled for three big Saturdays in Bondi Park. These markets are described as a “curated celebration of flavour,” aiming to bring together “delicious dishes from local businesses in Sydney’s East”. The promise is one of diverse, high-quality culinary experiences.  

The reality: The reality of encountering “14 stalls serving up churros and frankfurters” on a day when visitors are still keen to explore suggests a disconnect between the festival’s ambitious marketing and its actual delivery on certain days. The Bondi Markets, held across the road every weekend, is much better.

Record numbers – but where is everyone?

What the festival says: The Bondi Festival 2023 was declared its “greatest festival to date,” attracting “over 69k attendees,” a “45% increase from our pre-Covid attendance figures,” and generating an impressive “$1.2mil in revenue for Bondi’s local businesses”. Furthermore, the 2025 festival is being heavily promoted as its “biggest-ever program,” promising a “fresh line-up of world-class music, theatre, comedy, visual arts and interactive performances”. The message is clear: the festival is thriving and expanding.  

The reality: Now, admittedly, we were there on a Sunday. But there were only a few families on the grass, compared to the thousands the festival once attracted, which presents a stark contrast to this official narrative.

Is it the fault of the fun police?

Has over-regulation from the fun police ruined the Bondi Festival? Well, the ice rink’s current location in Bondi Park owes much to a debate over a decade ago about “damage to the grass” and “the risk of rubbish on the sand”. The NIMBY argument that the State government is outlawing music venue neighbours who claim the noise from rock bands is upsetting (tell that to AC/DC!)

The festival industry in New South Wales faces significant challenges from “stringent festival regulations” and “rising operational costs,” as evidenced by the cancellation of other major events like the Good Life Festival.

Reclaim Bondi’s uniqueness

The Bondi Festival is still a great brand and has a lot of pulling power. But it needs to get back to its roots as a truly unique slice of Bondi life. It is in serious danger of becoming “just another Saturday market”.

For 2026, let’s get the ice rink back on the beach, open the food stalls to local vendors like Sean’s Panorama and Icebergs. The Bondi Festival has the potential to remain a beloved, world-class event, but it must guard against the creeping normalcy that threatens to turn a vibrant cultural institution into a poor imitation of a travelling fun fair.