After a deserved break this year, the Cairns Ukulele Festival has announced its 2016 dates. The Cairns Ukulele Festival will be held 25-28 August 2016, a little later in the year than the festival traditionally was held. “After 5 years of very average weather and only just scraping through with our outdoor events, we have decided to move the festival back to a little later in the year, increasing our chances of much better weather, and offering the national and international visitors that travel to Cairns for our festival an even greater experience of what’s on offer here”, festival director Gaby Thomasz said. August/September generally is dry, with low humidity, relatively cool nights and day time temperatures of around 27 degrees Celsius. “Locals reckon it’s the best time of the year”.

An added bonus for visitors will be that the ukulele festival will lead into Cairns Regional Council’s Cairns Festival, adding even more reasons for visitors to extend their stay and offering additional opportunities for visitors to participate in other festivities, including of course the Festival Parade (August 27th, 2016).

Next year’s festival will see the return of familiar signature events as well as new events and concert locations. “As a festival, we have become internationally renown for showcasing the region, for example by hosting concerts on the Great Barrier Reef, utilising many different venues such as the Hilton, Esplanade and Casino, and showcasing top class acts in a friendly, tropical setting”.

As for next year’s line-up, the organisers remain tight lipped. “We will send out our first artist release very soon, so stay tuned and sign up for notifications on our web or social media sites. However, I can confirm today that Cairns’ own Ryo Montgomery, who is regarded as one of Australia’s finest ukulele players will be performing with his band The Montgomery Brothers. He is currently touring the States with his uke, and will be one of the festival’s headliners”, Gaby said.

For future updates and more news, follow the Cairns Ukulele Festival via the festival web site, Facebook site or Twitter.