What's On in Margaret River This Month

People email and ask what's on when they're coming down. I'll keep this short because the answer changes month to month, and a long post that says nothing useful is worse than a short post that does.

Here's what I'd actually circle on a calendar.

Some things happen every week and they're as good as any festival.

The Margaret River Farmers Market runs every Saturday morning. Augusta-Margaret River Showgrounds, eight till noon. I go most weekends I'm not travelling. It's the best place in the region for produce and the best place to run into the people you should know. With only one Saturday, spend it here.

The gallery is open most days of the week. Pamela's usually at the front, I'm usually in the workshop. When the workshop door is open, walk through and say hello. We always have something on the bench.

Photo: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Two events worth planning a trip around.

Pair'd Margaret River Region. The wine, food and music festival is back from 19 to 22 November 2026. Over twenty events across four days, spread between cellar doors, beaches, karri forest long lunches and the like. Tickets release in stages. The full program lands mid-year. To come for it, book accommodation early. The region fills up.

Margaret River Region Open Studios. Saturday 12 September to Sunday 27 September 2026. Two weeks. More than 150 working artists open their studios from 10am to 4pm, free entry, from Busselton down to Augusta. It's the biggest open studios event in Australia and it's the only window where you can wander into almost any maker's workshop in the region without an appointment. We open our workshop as part of it. Pick up a printed catalogue at any visitor centre.

the Open Studios trail for how to plan a route through it. PAIRD in Margaret River for what's actually worth queuing for at Pair'd.

The galleries on Caves Road run a rotation. Yallingup Galleries usually has three or four major shows a year. Boranup down south runs new hangs regularly. JahRoc, which has moved out of its main street retail space to its manufacturing headquarters, opens for visit weeks a few times a year. Check their site.

For a gallery day, the best general guide is the wider gallery write-up. The current hangs change too often for me to list here.

A few that come up most years that locals plan around:

• CinéfestOZ in late August. Australian and French film, mostly in Busselton.
• Cabin Fever in July. Winter food and wine across cellar doors. The quiet season counterpart to Pair'd.
• The Margaret River Pro surf event, usually around April. Even for non-surfers, the energy in town that fortnight is worth seeing. what to do on Pro lay days for what to do on the lay days.
• Gourmet Escape, held in November in some years, replaced by Pair'd in others. Check before you book.

In autumn, which is when I'd suggest visiting where there's a choice, the festivals are quiet, the crowds are gone, and the light is the best it gets all year. You don't need an event to justify the trip. Walk a section of the Cape to Cape. Eat at a cellar door. Come and see the gallery. That's your week.

In spring during Open Studios, plan harder. Print the map. Pick a region (north, central, or south) and don't try to do all three in a day.

The workshop's open most days. Come during Open Studios in September to see the bench active and meet the other makers who exhibit here. We're on Blythe Rd, off Bussell Hwy.

Three places I'd trust for the current calendar:

• margaretriver.com/events, the official regional calendar
• mrropenstudios.com.au, where the September fortnight catalogue lives
• Tourism Western Australia's events listings for the broader WA picture

Something important to you, ring the venue. Down here a website might be a month behind. The people running the events are usually easy to get on the phone.