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Garden Route Festivals and Events

We have a surprising number of diverse and fun Garden Route Festivals on the go through-out the year so visitors in both winter and summer months have opportunity to attend at least one if not more festival depending on the length of their stay in the area.

All these festivals give people an occasion to explore their particular genre of  entertainment and a reason to enjoy a day out doing something different.

Carpe Musicam  consisting of orchestra, choir and youth ensemble present a variety of shows along the Garden Route throughout the year, by locals and for locals (and visitors) - a delicious mixture of all kinds of music and song to delight music lovers of all ages. Visit their website to stay up to date with their  current program.

Sedge Tortoise Tuff Event

Tortoise Tuff 2025 Event - starts and finishes at Sedgefield Primary School 7am 22 March.
For more information, Organiser Details: Cathy Weiderman,
Sedgefield Striders email, online@aswd.co.za,  or cell: 083 625 5913 and
https://entrytickets.net/tortoisetuff

Knysna Pride Festival 2025
  • The Pink Mardi Gras and Arts Festival - is a full-on spectacle of pageantry, theatre, creativity, music, design, multi-media, and other forms of artistic expression for the LGBTQ community and everyone to enjoy. Dates still to be finalised.
  • Knysna Oyster Festival 4-13 July 2025. So much more than oysters, this 10 day festival offers something for everyone of every age. Good food and fine wines to maintain the high energy to participate in all the great outdoor sporting activities. e.g. Marathon forest run, Cansa run/walk, Amazing Race-Knysna style, 5-a-side paintball tournament, Golf days, Harbour 2 heads lagoon challenge and more.
Knysna Art and Lifestyle Events
  • Knysna Arts and Lifestyle Event - 25 & 26 April 2025
    This 2 day event involves the full spectrum of art from gorgeous clothing to classy cars, from delicious food paired with wonderful wines, to fabulous home decor and artwork to enhance it. This allows people to drink it all in and to imagine pulling all the various elements together to create a lifestyle uniquely their own. 
Garden Route Kite Festival 2023 Program
  • Garden Route Kite Festival - 8 October 2023 - A day of family fun flying kites, some truly spectacular ones and a chance to enter some kite flying competitions and battles, geared for all ages. Also enjoyable for spectators! (The name has changed from Eden Kite Festival to Garden Route Kite Festival.)
People enjoying the abundant stalls of the outdoor Leisure Isle Spring Festival
  • Leisure Isle Festival  4 - 5 November 2023 - Knysna.  An outdoor Spring Flea Market for the whole family to enjoy. It's a great source for unique and original Christmas and birthday presents.
The Slow Festival Organising Team carrying the banner in the Sunday Street Parade.
  • The Slow Festival - Sedgefield  Good family fun the whole weekend long.
  •  Unless someone puts their hand up to organise it, it looks as though this festival will not be revived.
Sedgefield Walkie Talkies in the flowering fynbos on the Doring River Trail
  • Garden Route Walking Festival - Easter weekend - all areas of Garden Route - a few talks and all kinds of walks from easy to strenuous. This festival suffered the fate of many others when it was halted by the Covid 19 pandemic.  No updates on this festival as yet.
An Event of the Knysna Literary Festival
  • Knysna Literary Festival has been put on hold until further notice.  It was on the Knysna calendar for 11 years until silenced by the Covid 19 pandemic. An amazing array of events allowed locals a chance to meet and listen to  discussions with authors and the books they had written and to get their book purchases personally signed by their authors!
Amazing wooden elephant sculpture carved from a wooden remnant of the June 2017 wildfires.
  • Knysna Timber Festival - On hold for until further notice. Celebrating our indigenous forests and Knysna's Timber Heritage at Timber Village with some fine exhibitions and excellent talks.

Support Garden Route Festivals

Festival organisers are to be commended for the great deal of hard work they put into creating these events which in all instances raises funds for local charities thereby benefiting their communities which is surely good reason to support them.

These Garden Route Festivals are within reach of all the towns  along the Garden Route and, dare I say, most convenient for Sedgefield residents or visitors who are probably half-way between them all. So, no matter where they are, a great outing is no more than an hour or two away at the most.