A family-friendly festival celebrating barbecues and pale ales will have lawn mower racing, 80 craft beers and ciders, live music and cooking stalls.
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The Kangaroo Valley Craft Beer and Barbecue Festival will take over The Friendly Inn from September 17 to 18 to showcase more than 80 craft beers and ciders accompanied by barbecue battles run by the Australian BBQ Association.
Owner of the Friendly Inn, Peter Thompson, said he was excited to bring the event back after a COVID-induced hiatus.
"It's been a long time between drinks and barbecues for this festival and it was really hitting its stride and being really well attended," Mr Thompson said.
"It really got fatiguing to keep postponing and rescheduling during COVID.
"There's so many people that work to make this happen."
Mr Thompson said they'll be incorporating family-friendly activities ranging from piglet racing to lawnmower racing.
The festival will also host a live music stage, brewers' stage, barbecue butchery demonstrations, eating competitions, helicopter rides and cooking stalls.
Grill kings and queens will go head to head in two barbecue competitions where teams will compete for cash and prizes and audience members can be a judge.
"There's $10,000 cash prizes in place but it's also good to talk to these barbecue professionals and get tips and tricks," Mr Thompson said.
After being closed off from tourists for a period of time due to floods and landslides, Mr Thompson believed this is exactly what the town needs.
"It will be a boost to the whole town, a lot of Kangaroo Valley's economy is made up of accommodation providers," Mr Thompson said.
"What will happen over this weekend is all the shops will be smashed, providers will have their goods out and it will be a great weekend for everyone after the rough couple of years we've had."
For the event, kids under 12 will have free entry and a one day adult pass will be $25 with discounts for concessions, juniors, seniors, and weekend passes.
For more details and to purchase tickets, click here.
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