Warwick, Queensland
In 2004 a group of citizens in Warwick who shared a passion for yarn had a bright idea. They decided to decorate the bare winter trees in the main street of their southern Queensland town. The keen crafters probably never imagined that their yarnbombing project would be the catalyst for an annual festival which now attracts thousands of visitors.
That first year, staff at the Warwick Art Gallery assembled a group of knitters, crocheters and weavers who worked together to create “tree jumpers” for every tree in the main shopping area. A program of jazz performances was planned to accompany the yarnbombing and Jumpers and Jazz in July was born!
Now decorating the trees is competitive, with cash prizes offered in several sections including excellence in knitting and/or crochet and best community and school groups.
One popular section in the competition is the theme challenge, with this year’s theme being Crackers – from Christmas bonbons
to firecrackers and fireworks
and even cheese and crackers!
While the trees take centre stage, public buildings undergo a yarnbombing transformation too. The sandstone pillars of Warwick Town Hall and the bollards on the pedestrian crossings wear their own colourful jumpers.
In July, Warwick comes alive with Jumpers and Jazz.
I love this, my towns trees get yarn bombed at Christmas time.
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There were more than 100 trees with yarnbombing. It was wonderful. So much to look at.
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Oh what fun 😀
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It really was a fun day, Cee. We only live 45 minutes away from Warwick but had never been to the festival before. We really enjoyed ourselves.
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How fascinating and so colourful too. One would have a permanent smile walking around there. 🙂
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Oh yes! Everyone was enjoying themselves all along the street.
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Thank you for the smiles and the chuckles I enjoyed while reading this post. One of the things I’ve missed during this pandemic that just won’t end is laughter with friends. So, I sincerely hope folks seeing these decorations share a smile and a laugh. Thank you for bringing this unique celebration to our attention.
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I’m so pleased you enjoyed seeing all these fabulous trees, Judy. The workmanship was incredible. Even Mr ET thoroughly enjoyed the day and was very taken with all the little details in each one. I’m glad I gave you a reason to smile today.
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This is so creative! I love the many different ideas. I am amazed. It is so wonderful that knitting has evolved to this art form. Do they ever take them down after the festival?
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Yes, I believe they are only up for the month of July. I know some of the creations are used again. You should think about going next year. You could easily do a day trip, or consider staying over on the weekend. They have two big weekends of events.
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It is on the agenda to visit when we can!
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Jumpers and Jazz sounds brilliant. Those jumpers all look amazing, what a wonderful idea to get the community involved in decorating the town and also get everyone knitting. Love all the photos.
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Sorry I missed your comment Jonno. I just found it when looking for something else here. Yes, the festival is great fun and a wonderful community event. I’m hoping we might go again this year.
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A lot of fun and a lot of craftswomanship, Carol. Love those pillars!
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Aren’t they great. We spent so much time looking. There were more than 100 trees. I suspect some of the crafts people were men too. 🙂
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🤗💕💕
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I love seeing these on trees! It really brightens them up beautifully 😀
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And there were more than 100 trees so you can imagine how amazing it looked.
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Every town needs an identity, and what a bright colourful identity this is. Love it. One town that I want to go to one during their identity festival is Grafton when 5hey have their jacaranda festival.
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Oh yes, this is fantastic! Those knitters are so creative – fancy making cheese out of wool 😮 I love the bollards too. A great idea for a community festival!
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I loved the donuts best. We had such a great day checking out every tree. So clever.
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