Taste Great Southern is a premier culinary festival in Western Australia’s events calendar, centred around celebrating the region’s local talent, venues, produce, cultural heritage, and rugged natural beauty.
It’s expected to attract thousands of visitors from outside the Great Southern region over the next three years, generating millions of dollars for the local economy.
New four-day format with interactive town takeovers
Based primarily in Albany and Denmark, the festival will run in a new four-day format from Thursday, May 1st to Sunday, May 4th. The 2025 iteration will also include interactive town takeovers in Mount Barker, Porongurup, Frankland River, and Katanning, to encourage visitors to explore undiscovered locations.
The festival will feature a line-up of world-class chefs and a packed schedule of events including a journey through the vines in Denmark, chef collaborations, wine masterclasses, and premium produce pop-ups, all aimed at showcasing local businesses and the region.
Taste Great Southern 2025 will be delivered by new owner, Australia’s South West, with destination event specialists AHOY Management, known for their work on Cabin Fever Festival and Pair’d Margaret River Region, to lead the event management.
“As a long-time supporter of Taste Great Southern, I am excited to experience the new format and approach to the festival that shows off the best our region has to offer — exquisite local food and drinks, a stunning natural environment and incredible cultural heritage,” Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens said.
“This three-year extension further adds to Albany’s reputation as a must-visit tourism destination, and provides visitors with a reason to visit as the weather starts to cool down,” Stephens said.
“Taste Great Southern has been an important festival on our State’s culinary events calendar for over 20 years and has given local hospitality businesses and tourism operators an economic boost and unique platform to showcase the world-class food and wine coming from their region,” Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti said.
“Taste Great Southern is the perfect event to centre a self-drive holiday around, and I encourage travellers to hit the road next May to explore the wider region, before heading along to this great event.”
