Thousands of dollars worth of beanies sold in outback event's final hurrah

Thousands of people attended the record-breaking 2026 Alice Springs Beanie Festival. (ABC News: Will Green) This year's Alice Springs Beanie festival sold out, selling a record $400,000 worth of caps in three days. The event marked the quirky festival's 30th and final iteration. Maggie Pereyra won the Our Favourite Animal Prize for her beanie featuring two black red-tailed cockatoos. Link copiedShareShare articleThe 30th and final Alice Springs Beanie Festival has been a sellout, with almost 8,000 handmade creations snapped up by visitors to the colourful event. Event organiser and chief beanieologist Jo Nixon said the festival had set a new record, selling $400,000 worth of beanies in three days. The beanie festival offers many an opportunity to express their creativity. (ABC News: Will Green) Over its three decades, the quirky event has brought in more than $4 million in sales profits — 30 per cent of which has been reinvested into funding creative workshops in remote communities across the territory. Jo Nixon says she's glad the beanie festival is ending on a high note. (ABC News: Xavier Martin) Ms Nixon said she was "really proud" of the festival and all it achieved over its years. "It makes my heart sing to just see the joy that me and all the volunteers have brought to people," she said. This year's festival was declared the final one due to aging volunteers and the size of the event becoming too big for the current venue. The Alice Springs Beanie Festival is well-known for selling wonderful and wacky beanies. (ABC News: Will Green) "We just didn't want it to get tired and people start having a bad time because these queues are too long," Ms Nixon said. "I'm so happy we're ending on a high note." The Alice Springs Beanie Festival has earned $4 million over its 30-year history. (ABC News: Will Green) It was through the community workshops that Julie Kitson — who lives in Willowra, a remote Aboriginal community about 340 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs — was introduced to the new art form 13 years ago. "I learnt to do a needle felting when the beanie festival went out to Willowra to run the workshop, and then I came to Alice Springs when the beanie big event was happening here," Ms Kitson said. Julie Kitson has been taking part in the Alice Springs Beanie Festival for the past 13 years. (ABC News: Will Green) As the Alice Springs Beanie Festival celebrates its 30th and final year, we're exploring the wonderful handmade creations — and the characters working hard behind the scenes — that make it special. Since then, Ms Kitson has become a master of the craft and now teaches others how to create beanies both in Alice Springs and in other remote communities. "We have a long table, and everyone comes along from here and interstate, we teach them and guide them on how to use the needle to felt a wool onto fabric," she said. "Also, I've been going out with other staff members to run the workshop in the community, one week in each community. "I've been to Titjikala, Santa Teresa, Yuendumu, Willowra, and Tennant Creek." Ms Kitson said she cried when she heard this year would be the last beanie festival. "I cried because this is my most beautiful work that I've been doing," she says. Maggie Pereyra, who has been taking part in the festival for nine years, agreed it was sad to see the festival come to an end. Maggie Pereyra's winning beanie is named after her two friends who had just got married. (ABC News: Will Green) Ms Pereyra won this year's Our Favourite Animal Prize for her beanie featuring two black red-tailed cockatoos, titled 'Jamie and Lou'. "I named it Jamie and Lou after my friends who had just gotten married … it reminded me of them, the black cockatoos, how they like mate for life," she said. Ms Pereyra said the beanie was largely made from felt, with a foam base inside the birds to give them their shape. The birds' more structured features — the beak and feet — have been made from polymer clay. Maggie Pereyra's beanie features two cockatoos, including the female bird's unique feather pattern. (ABC News: Will Green) "It took me, you could say, like a week working on it eight hours a day, perhaps," she said. At the centre of Ms Pereyra's winning beanie is a felted heart which her friends gifted to guests at their wedding — a perfect final touch to a beanie all about love and gratitude. Copy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)PromotionTop Stories'You won't make it back': Trump's threat to Iran reps at peace talksTopic:Unrest, Conflict and War

Thousands of dollars worth of beanies sold in outback event's final hurrah

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