From Kalbar’s famous Hay Bale Trail and carrot-throwing contests to the Scarecrow Festival on Tamborine Mountain, country shows, spring markets, food, flowers and festivals, the Scenic Rim celebrates Spring differently.
As the landscape greens up and paddocks pop with colour and harvests, two of the region’s most wonderfully quirky traditions return: Kalbar’s famous Hay Bale Trail, when enormous hay bales are transformed into extraordinary roadside creations, and the Scarecrow Trail and Festival, bringing another army of wonderfully weird and whimsical country characters.
Across Spring, the Scenic Rim’s farms, villages, main streets, wineries and gathering places come alive with country shows, markets, food and wine, live music, family fun and fabulous festivals, all served with a generous helping of country hospitality, and an ongoing celebration of supporting local produce growers and creators.
Kalbar Country Day and famous Hay Bale Trail.
17 October 2026 | George Street, Kalbar | 7am–2pm
The famous Hay Bale Trail sees locals unleash their creativity, and their worst hay puns, on enormous hay bales dotted around the district.
Star creations include Mick-hay and Min-hay Mouse, Slink-hay and even the Kalbar J-hay-l, a jail constructed from hay bales.
The challenge is part sculpture, part community competition and entirely country. It culminates in the Kalbar Country Day on Saturday 17 October, with more than 140 market stalls, music and bush poets, food and drinks, vintage tractors and cars, face painting and balloon twisting, a People Mover Train between the Showgrounds and Main Street, and, because this is the Carrot Capital of Australia, the fiercely contested Junior and Senior Carrot Throwing Competitions. Early birds can even score the famous gold coin breakfast, available to the first 350 people.
Tamborine Mountain Scarecrow Trail and Festival
30 October–1 November 2026 | Tamborine Mountain
For one wonderfully weird weekend each spring, Tamborine Mountain is taken over by scarecrows, hundreds of them.
It’s one glorious outdoor sculpture show, with locals, families, schools, community groups and businesses creating scarecrows ranging from the traditional to the clever, colourful and completely bonkers.
The Spot the Scarecrow Discovery Trail becomes one big scarecrow treasure hunt and there’s a serious-ish competitive streak too, with categories including Creative, Traditional, Business, Family, Child, Celebrity and even First Time in Field, culminating in the coveted Best in Show.
NOVEMBER
Christmas shopping gets a distinctly Scenic Rim twist at Summer Land Camels, with its popular country market returning for a festive day at the camel farm.
DECEMBER
Katherine Outback Experience and Tom Curtain Tour: 5 December |Boonah
Award-winning country artist and horseman Tom Curtain brings the Australian outback to life through horsemanship, working-dog demonstrations, bush stories and live country music in this a family-friendly celebration of life on the land. The Katherine Outback Experience itself centres on real horse training and working dogs. Katherine Outback Experience
Light Up Kalbar: 5 December 2026 | Kalbar
Kalbar gets its Christmas sparkle on as the historic village comes together for a festive community celebration, lighting up the town and bringing locals and visitors together for some country Christmas cheer.
Boonah Christmas Street Festival and Parade: 17 December 2026 | Boonah
Boonah celebrates Christmas Scenic Rim-style, with its town centre becoming the setting for a festive community street celebration and Christmas parade. It’s a big, family-friendly finale to the year in the heart of the region.
Just an hour from Brisbane the Scenic Rim stretches across more than 4,200 square kilometres of ancient mountains, World Heritage-listed rainforest, national parks, productive farmland and historic towns and villages.
It’s a chance to get away – but not too far with farmstays, luxury retreats, boutique hotels, glamping, wineries, breweries, distilleries, paddock-to-plate dining and plenty of country roads in between.
And this spring, great escapes to the near south could involves baby alpacas or breakfast Champagne, a farm basket or a grapefruit martini, an e-bike or a 4WD, a romantic chapel or a rainforest reset. For more information head to visitscenicrim.com.au.
