When Maria Sanderson and James Chen first sketched out their idea for a winter festival in a notebook at a café on Sheridan Street in Edge Hill, neither imagined it would eventually transform the city's cultural calendar. A decade later, their vision—now the Cairns Winter Nights programme—draws approximately 40,000 visitors across three weeks and has become the centrepiece of the local events industry.
The story began in 2016 when both were working as secondary schoolteachers in Woree. Frustrated by the perception that Cairns culture shut down during the cooler months, they approached the Cairns Regional Council with a modest proposal: create a festival celebrating local artists, musicians, and food entrepreneurs during June and July when tourism typically dipped.
"We wanted to prove that winter could be our season," Sanderson explained in an earlier interview, noting that the city's tropical identity often overshadowed its potential as a cultural hub outside peak summer tourism.
The first Winter Nights festival in 2018 ran for just ten days on Shields Street and Esplanade, featuring 12 local musicians and five food vendors. Attendance barely exceeded 3,000. But the organisers persisted, expanding to partnerships with the Cairns Convention Centre, Lake Street Plaza, and independent venues across the city centre. By 2023, the festival had grown to feature over 150 artists, theatre productions, and culinary events.
Today, the programme operates with a budget of $580,000—a combination of council funding, corporate sponsorship from local businesses like Reef Catchments and Far North Queensland Tourism, and ticket sales. The 2026 edition, running until July 19, features 34 ticketed events including theatre productions at the Performing Arts Centre, live music at The Pier and The Keystone, and installations across The Esplanade.
What distinguishes Winter Nights from other regional festivals is its deliberate focus on emerging local talent. Nearly 70 per cent of performers are Cairns-based artists. This commitment has created economic opportunities; the festival now generates an estimated $2.8 million in visitor spending across hospitality and retail sectors.
Sanderson and Chen eventually left teaching to run Winter Nights full-time in 2021, establishing it as a not-for-profit organisation with a small team based near the city centre. Their model—grassroots vision combined with strategic partnerships—has attracted attention from regional development agencies across Queensland.
"What started as a conversation about changing perceptions became something that genuinely changed the city," one colleague reflected. The two remain modest about their achievement, but the numbers speak clearly: Cairns now has a winter cultural season that didn't exist a decade ago.
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