Geelong Rainbow Festival returns with biggest program yet

THE Geelong Rainbow Festival will make its return next weekend with its biggest program to date, expanding into a three-day celebration of pride and community.

After the cancellation of last year’s festival due to limited resources and stretched finances, the volunteer-run event is back with a strengthened program that now includes a launch party and an appearance at the Victorian Pride Street Party in Melbourne.

Geelong Rainbow president Audrey Stringer said the organisation was excited to bring the festival back with renewed energy and ambition.

“We’re coming back with a huge bang,” she said.

“Geelong Rainbow’s worked absolutely tirelessly to put on this beautiful three-day extravaganza and we’re just so excited to put on something that’s going to be so pivotal for our community in Geelong.”

The 2026 festival will begin on Friday, February 6 with a Pride Cabaret Launch Party at Geelong Arts Centre.

The event will run from 7pm to 10pm, opening with a Smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country. An evening of drag, cabaret, comedy and live music will follow.

The annual free festival day will then take place on Saturday, February 7. It will begin with a Pride March through central Geelong at 10am, before the main festival, held in Johnstone Park, begins at 11am.

It will feature live community performances, DJs, drag artists, food trucks, children’s activities, sensory spaces and more. A range of stallholders will also attend.

“We’ve got Harlem Starlet [a jewellery brand owned by a queer, disabled artist], we’ve got queer clothing, we’ve got a fair few homegrown Geelong artists [and] we’ve got some Indigenous trans artists, which is beautiful,” Stringer said.

“You could spend the whole day there and not do everything.”

The festival will also see the debut of newly designed Geelong Rainbow merchandise.

“For the first time ever in Geelong Rainbow’s history, we’re launching merch on the Saturday,” Stringer said. “We’ll be selling stickers, hats, the works.”

The festival weekend will conclude on Sunday, February 8, with Geelong Rainbow hosting a stall at the Victorian Pride Street Party, which is part of the statewide Midsumma Festival.

The organisation will run a community craft stall offering activities like bracelet and necklace making, providing an opportunity to connect with festivalgoers while representing Geelong’s queer community on a larger stage.

Stringer said the return of the Geelong Rainbow Festival marked an important step toward building greater visibility and consistency for queer events in the region.

“Geelong doesn’t have enough for queer people and we’re really trying our best to lead the charge and make sure that there is a lot of queer things on in Geelong and that there’s more consistency – that’s what our Geelong community is really asking for,” she said.