ChillOut Festival 2022

ChillOut Festival

ChillOut, Australia’s number one Queer Country Pride festival, ­is held in the gay capital of regional Victoria – Daylesford! From humble beginnings, ChillOut has grown to become the biggest and longest-running Country Queer Pride event in regional Australia, and the largest festival in Hepburn Shire.

While events in the capital cities might be a lot bigger, ChillOut retains a relaxed, down-to-earth atmosphere with plenty of opportunities to let your hair down, and has found a special place in the hearts of gay men and lesbians across Australia – and the world

ChillOut began as an annual festival of the Springs Connection, a local gay and lesbian business group in Daylesford. The first festival was staged in 1997 and each year the festival has been hosted over the Victorian Labour Day long weekend in March.

Daylesford is a charming town. The roads are wide and lined with trees; a grand post office, topped with a turret, stands at one end of the main street; a turn of the century pub with a wide balcony shading the footpath below, at the other. The town of 2500, at the foot of the Great Dividing Range, is one of the increasing number of regional towns and outer suburbs LGBTI Australians are calling home.

Across two weeks from the end of February through to March, the festival transforms the Central Highlands of Victoria into “Queer Country”. There’s a carnival, a champagne bar, even a parade through the town. There are plenty of cowboy hats and flannelette shirts. Unlike your average bush dance, however, in Daylesford the cowboys will be spinning one another around the dancefloor.

Highlights not to be missed include the Thick and Juicy Chill Out BBQ and party and the Poof Doof Drag Jamboree.

Here are our top recommendations on places to stay during the event.

Hotel Frangos,   Central Springs Inn,   The Royal Hotel,    Pendower House B&B.