For eleven days, Ipswich well and truly came alive with the sights, sounds and epic atmosphere of the Ipswich Festival. In typical festival fashion, the eleven days were kickstarted by one of the biggest family favourites – Fire on the River.

Other typical favourites like the Mayor’s Festival Ball, Creative Kidz, the Parade of Light, the Street Party with Mental As Anything, the Fiesta and Jazz, Wine and Blues sizzled with sensation.

With an estimated 15,000 partygoers revelling at the Parade, Street Party and Creative Kidz events, coupled with the biggest crowd ever at the Jazz, Wine and Blues festival, it appears the Ipswich Festival just keeps getting bigger and better.

This year’s cultural mecca was produced by none other than Joanne Hadnut – daughter of Terry who established the Ipswich Festival during his 13 years with Ipswich Events Corporation. Joanne initiated a number of new events, including “Ride On- Celebration of Cycling” which saw the city celebrating a week long of cycling related fun, based the Ipswich’s new Cycle Park at Raceview.

After 25 years with Ipswich Events Corporation, 2018 marks Paul Casos’ final year as Executive Chairman. Mr Casos said he was absolutely thrilled with the number of revellers at all events.

“We’ve been doing festivals for about 17 or 18 years and I thought it was certainly one of the biggest and best we’ve produced,” Mr Casos said.

“I think that all the new events introduced by Joanne this year will now become traditional parts of the festival going forward.”

Mr Casos said his time as Executive Chairman at Ipswich Events Corporation was a pleasurable experience that was not possible without the support of Ipswich business and the community.

“I thank the people of Ipswich for their support of the Ipswich Festival over the years. The emphasis has always been on free events and while there are one or two paid events, the majority of events are free so everyone can enjoy the festival,” he said.

“I also thank the community organisations that have embraced the festival over the years. Without the community support we would have never been able to grow the festival to what it is today.”

It’s hard to imagine how the 2019 Ipswich Festival could rival this year’s event, but it’s bound to be an exciting adventure. To view this year’s action, go to the www.facebook.com/IpswichFestival or www.ipswichfestival.com.au.