Brissy's Red Deer Music & Arts Festival Unveils 2017 Dates & Theme

Beloved boutique BYO bush bash Red Deer Music & Arts Festival will return for its seventh year in 2017, with organisers today revealing its theme and date as well as opening up the free-for-all on early-bird tickets. 

This year's event will return to the picturesque surrounds of the Mount Samson amphitheatre for its annual sleepover-cum-shindig on Saturday 14 October, spending the night under the stars as the planets align to help punters celebrate under banner of this year's "Space Oddity" motif.

The 2017 Red Deer fest will, for the first time, feature a third live-music stage, bolstering its already always-excellent array of entertainment alongside a raft of art installations, activities and other attractions such as the annual Fashion Of The Fields dance-off contest and the insanity of the traditional Red Deer Sack Race to keep the faithful fulfilled for their overnight camping odyssey.

Impressively, the festival will organise "Space Shuttles" (we see what you did there) to transport punters to the grounds from West End as well as Ferny Grove and Petrie train stations, to help keep the area as free of cars — and their accompanying carbon footprint — as possible.

Said festival co-founder Bas Pelly in a statement: "We're pumped that we can finally provide a third stage area, as it allows us to get even more awesome local bands and a greater variety of artists involved. We encourage performers and artists of all types to apply to be a part of this new, eclectic program."

With last year's line-up including artists such as Art Vs Science and The Jungle Giants, and previous iterations welcoming The Grates, Regurgitator, Clare Bowditch, Frenzal Rhomb, Andy Bull, The Kite String Tangle, Kingswood, Dubmarine and more, expect the 2017 event to maintain the standard and secure some truly enticing acts to soundtrack the festivities.

Early-bird tickets — as well as artist, workshop, vendor and volunteer applications — are up for grabs now.

See the festival's website for more information.