Winter festivals, art shows & markets: What’s on July 12-14 | Illawarra Mercury

Here’s your guide to what’s on around the traps from Friday to Sunday, July 12 to 14.

Kiama’s throwing a massive street party filled with music, live mural art, dancing, roving performances, light shows and workshops.

When: Saturday from noon to 9pm and Sunday from 10am to 2pm.

Where: Terralong Street, Kiama. Details.

More than 40 award-winning and debut authors (including the Mercury‘s Mitchell Jennings) poets, academics and journalists are taking part in 22 sessions during the festival.

“We have renamed ourselves as the South Coast Readers and Writers Festival so that it is clear to the many readers in our community that this festival is for them,” festival director Dr Sarah Nicholson said.

When: Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4.30pm.

Where: Thirroul District Community Centre and Library, 352-358 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul. Details.

For all the Elsa, Anna and Olaf fans, there’s still some tickets left to the weekend shows of this local youth production – but they’re selling fast.

See the talented young cast before they become famous. (Yes, they’re that good).

When: Saturday and Sunday, various times.

Where: Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts stage, Lysaght Street, Fairy Meadow. Details.

This popular art show – where members hire a wall from the gallery – is a celebration of local talent.

Meet and mingle with the artists and find out who will win the Curator’s Choice award.

When: Friday from 6pm to 8pm. Exhibition runs until July 21.

Where: Project Contemporry Art Space, 255 Keira Street, Wollongong. Details.

This is your last chance to get inside the park – one of the very few places many of the plants on display can be seen – until it reopens in spring.

Wander around the native gardens, take a Vine Forest walk in the rainforest, get up close to a giant blackbutt tree, enjoy a picnic and shop for plants. Dogs on leashes welcome.

When: Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 4pm.

Where: The Illawarra Grevillea Park Botanic Garden, Princes Highway, Bulli. Details.

“Come draw a bum, you’ll feel better after it.”

Those are the words of art educator David P, who runs fun, creative, non-judgmental life-drawing classes.

BYO drinks, snacks, paper and coloured pencil, charcoal or fine liner.

When: Friday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

Where: Upstairs at Lever’s Art Suplies, 30 Flinders Street, Wollongong. Book here.

Ngununggula’s new and highly anticipated exhibition Together Again features the work of Southern Highlands artist Clara Adolphs.

It will be the largest solo exhibition of her work ever presented in Australia.

When: Saturday from 5pm to 7pm. Exhibition runs until September 1.

Where: Ngununggula, 1 Art Gallery Lane, Bowral. Details.

Sultans Of Spin – a collective of DJs spinning party tunes on vinyl – will kick off the evening in the ’70s and roll through to the music of now.

Where: La La La’s, 3 Globe Lane, Wollongong. Details.

This original pantomime charts how Puss in Boots came into being and how he and his friends save the kingdom from villainy with the help of a magical enchantress and mystical gypsy.

It’s full of old and new songs, classical music and even a Roo original.

When: Friday until Sunday, July 21.

Where: Roo Theatre, corner of Addison and Wentworth streets, Shellharbour. Details.

In this family friendly exhibition, Jonathan Cooper’s cleverly timed photographs incorporate street furniture and other objects to create a tiny world-within-a-world.

Refreshments provided at the opening.

When: Friday from 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Runs until July 28.

Where: Wollongong Art Gallery, 46 Burelli Street, Wollongong. Details.

As part of the Safer Cities: Her Way Project, Dapto will host an event filled with live music, food, gelato and a free outdoor screening of Top End Wedding.

Grab a comfy chair or cushion and just turn up – no booking required. Event is weather dependent.

When: Friday from 3.30pm to 7.30pm.

Where: Dapto Square, Princes Highway, Dapto. Details.

Wollongong’s spinners and weavers are showcasing their handcrafted items just in time for winter.

While you’re there, check out Art on the Grass, a monthly market with stalls, food and music that runs from 10am to 2pm.

When: Opening celebration on Saturday at 1pm. Exhibition runs until July 17.

Where: Red Point Artists, 100 Wentworth Street, Port Kembla. Details.

It’s market day at Bulli and that means dozens of boutique stalls offering handcrafted goods, street food, coffee, pastries and more.

There’s live music, good vibes and more for the adults, and pony rides, face-painting and a sandpit for the kids.

When: Sunday from 9am to 2pm.

Where: Bulli Showground, Grevillea Park Road, Bulli. Details.

Ride the miniature train, tour the locomotive shed, take a look at the 1915 Otford signal box and check out the 1890 Yallah station building.

Have a coffee and get a souvenir from the tramway dining car during this nostalgic day out for the whole family.

When: Sunday from 10am to 2pm.

Where: Illawarra Light Railway Museum, 48A Tongarra Rd, Albion Park Rail. Details.

Terry Fielding, co-writer of the hit ’70s song The Whale will be a special guest at a concert hosted by the Illawarra Folk Club.

The Romeos – described as “one of the most passionate duos singing and interpreting Australian traditional folk and bush music” – will also perform.

When: Thirroul Railway Institute Hall, 14 Railway Parade, Thirroul. Details.