After running the legendary Cardrona Folk Festival for 46 years, Martin & Kay Curtis left their beloved Cardrona Valley and settled in nearby Earnscleugh, Central Otago.

In 2024 we hosted the inaugural Earnscleugh Folk Festival. Despite some inclement weather, the festival was very successful and everyone who came was very complimentary about the facilities at the 100 year old Earnscleugh Hall, just outside of Alexandra in Central Otago.

In 2025 we ran the wee festival again and moved the date forward by 3 weeks in order to hopefully strike better weather – which we did.  We are pleased to announce that the festival will run again this year 2026 on the same weekend, which is one week after the famous annual Alexandra Blossom Festival when the Central Otago blossoms are in their full Spring glory!  

Like the last two years, there will be no official guest artistes, so everyone can be very involved with the weekend’s music and dance. The programme will follow the usual Cardrona format of poetry or singalongs in the mornings, blackboard concerts, themed concerts and invited concerts in the afternoons, the big Saturday night ceilidh and the final concert on Sunday night.

The festival will take place at the Earnscleugh Hall, Earnscleugh Road from Friday 2nd October to Sunday 4th October, with pack-up day on the morning of Monday 5th. The hall has lots of space out the back for caravans, campers and tents and has internal toilets and washbasins. There is also a large kitchen with water boiler, stove and toasters, which can be used by participants. There is ample crockery and cutlery as well - however please note that there are no cooking pots, pans or utensils, so you will have to bring your own if you wish to cook. There are fantastic heaters in the hall, as we luckily discovered in our first year.  Sorry, but there are no showers!

For those who prefer a bit of comfort (and a shower!), there are motels and campgrounds with cabins only 5kms away in both Alexandra and Clyde. You’d best book soon for these as the famous Blossom festival is on the weekend before our gathering, and some of the events do go on for a few days.

After the enormous success of Basil Fitzpatrick’s buffet meal on the Sunday night last year, he has generously offered to do the same again this year. The meal will commence at 6pm with a large pot of yummy soup and nibbles, followed by platters of street food and finger type food that will be placed on tables around the hall. During the interval of the concert. a second round of platters will be brought out, so the meal will be spread out over the evening. The street food will include at least two curry type meals and rice and things such as tacos, chicken nuggets etc. The chef will cater for all the usual food requirements such as vegetarians and allergies such as gluten free. (Campers please note that the kitchen will not be available for use on Sunday once the afternoon concerts have finished.) 

The registration fee for the whole weekend is $120.00 per person which includes the complimentary meal on Sunday evening. 

This is a reminder to all who are thinking of coming, that we would appreciate confirmation and payment as soon as possible and at the latest by 20th September, so that we have an idea of numbers. The caterer especially would appreciate this in order to purchase enough food.   We can also then open up bookings to the local people who might be interested in joining us.

We do hope you can join us for another weekend of music, dance, good company and fun!

To register your interest and arrange payment, please email Martin at martincurtisnz(at)gmail.com

(as an attempt to prevent spam, the @ has been replaced by (at). You will have to change this when sending an email).

Last updated: 29 June 2026