Welcome to this week's edition of The Newy List!

Newcastle has done that spring thing where the calendar suddenly fills up just as you have stopped trusting the weather app. Illuminate turns Boomerang Park into a proper night out, Macy Gray is at The Station if you are on the waitlist, and there is a garden ramble worth making room in the boot for. If crowds feel like a personal insult, there are quieter gallery and market options from Booragul to Dungog. Put the kettle on, choose a plan and read on.

Boomerang Park becomes a free evening of light installations, live music, food trucks, community stalls, a lantern parade, fire twirling and fireworks. The lantern parade starts at 6:30pm and fireworks are scheduled for 7:30pm.

•When: Saturday 19 September, 4:00pm–8:00pm

•Where: Boomerang Park, Raymond Terrace

•Price: Free

•More info: Event details

Lake Macquarie’s long-running sustainability festival brings local artists, food trucks, community activities, talks and presentations to Speers Point Park. Beau Miles is on the program with a presentation and hands-on workshop.

•When: Saturday 19 September, 9:00am–3:00pm

•Where: Speers Point Park, Speers Point

•Price: Free

•More info: Event details

Make a day of the Hunter Valley’s biennial sculpture festival, with more than 180 works across six indoor galleries and an outdoor trail around historic Wollombi. Daily guided tours run at 11:00am, with artist talks, workshops and local food and wine dotted through the program.

•When: Monday 14 September–Sunday 20 September, daily; guided tours 11:00am

•Where: Wollombi Village and surrounding festival sites, Wollombi

•Price: Free exhibition; some tours and workshops are ticketed

•More info: Festival program

A concert-style celebration of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, built around the familiar run of Sherry, Walk Like a Man and Can’t Take My Eyes Off You. A straightforward nostalgic night out at Flamingos.

•When: Tuesday 15 September, 8:30pm–11:00pm

•Where: Flamingos Live, Lambton

•Price: See booking page

•More info: Book tickets

The Grammy-winning soul singer brings her unmistakable voice and a catalogue full of late-’90s and early-2000s favourites to The Station. Arrive in time for the atmosphere, then settle in for an outdoor evening that is more sing-along than serious musicological study.

When: Saturday, 19 September, gates 4:00pm; Macy Gray on stage 8:00pm

Where: The Station, corner of Scott and Watt Streets, Newcastle

$89 plus booking fee Direct event page/

Newcastle’s Mark Tinson hosts a one-night guitar showcase with Bob Spencer, Grant Walmsley, Dai Pritchard, Dave Hinds, Justin Ngariki, Pete Gray and special guests. Expect a very local roll-call of Australian rock credentials.

•When: Thursday 17 September, 8:30pm–11:00pm

•Where: Flamingos Live, Lambton

•Price: See booking page

•More info: Book tickets

A Sunday-afternoon celebration of Hunter voices, featuring Hunter Women of Note, Under Construction Mental Health Choir, Callaghan Singers, The Song Crew and more. The program closes with a massed choir performance.

•When: Sunday 20 September, 2:00pm–4:00pm

•Where: Warners Bay Theatre, baramayiba, Warners Bay

•Price: $30; concession $25; children free

•More info: Event details and booking

Newcastle’s long-standing classic-jazz sextet, led by alto saxophonist Grant Metcalfe, returns with its Blue Note-and-beyond sound. The all-local line-up includes Paul Issacs, Adam Ferrier, Gavin Ahearn, Jeremy Burrows and Tyson Hilder, for a Tuesday night of swing and jazz grooves at The Grand.

Shake & Stir Theatre Co reimagines the fairytales in a 75-minute stage work for audiences aged 14 and over. Note the content advice: adult themes, simulated violence and gore, smoke, strobes and loud sound.

•When: Wednesday 16 September or Thursday 17 September, 7:00pm

•Where: Civic Theatre Newcastle, Newcastle

•Price: See booking page

•More info: Choose a performance

An immersive projection-cube exhibition by The Useless Assembly and local artist Doug Heslop, bringing together artists of diverse ability and exploring neurodivergent perspectives. It is a thoughtful reason to make a detour through MAP mima.

•When: Friday 18 September–Sunday 20 September, 9:00am–2:00pm

•Where: Multi-Arts Pavilion (MAP mima), Speers Point

•Price: Not stated

•More info: Event details

From loose lightning sketches to finely detailed works, this Nelson Bay exhibition also includes Fibre & Clay works by Lesley Lewis and glasswork by Norma Hocking. Works are for sale, and the centre has free parking.

•When: Thursday 17 September–Sunday 20 September, during gallery opening hours

•Where: Port Stephens Community Arts Centre, Nelson Bay

•Price: Free

•More info: Exhibition details

A creative Hunter day out with the practical bits already handled: coffee and croissants on arrival, a ceramics session, local-produce lunch and a glass of Chardonnay. Your finished bird will need firing before collection, but the day itself is a pleasingly civilised way to make something with your hands.

When: Tuesday, 15 September, 9:30am

Where: Winmark Wines, 189–229 Wollombi Road, Broke

Direct event page/

This exhibition brings together work shaped by neurodivergent ways of thinking, seeing and making, including work from The Useless Assembly and local artist Doug Heslop.

•When: Friday 11–Sunday 13 September, 9:00 am–2:00 pm

•Where: MAP mima, 96 Creek Reserve Road, Speers Point

•Price: Free

•More info: Exhibition details

The RARE BIRD ensemble brings classic jazz, cabaret and immersive storytelling to Winmark Wines as part of the Wollombi sculpture festival. The ticket includes a three-course dinner and a glass of sparkling, with places limited.

•When: Thursday 17 September, 6:00pm–9:00pm

•Where: Winmark Wines, Broke

•Price: $145

•More info: Event details

The Slow Food Earth Market brings local farm produce to The Levee, including pickles, fruit, herbs, eggs, honey, olives and oils. Take a bag, chat to the growers and stock up for the week.

•When: Thursday 17 September, time not stated

•Where: The Levee, Maitland

•Price: Free entry

•More info: Market details

A boutique outdoor market of makers, artists, craft, artisan food and live music at Mortels. There is indoor and outdoor café dining on site, so this is an easy Sunday browse without an elaborate plan.

•When: Sunday 20 September, 9:00am–2:00pm

•Where: Mortels Sheepskin Factory, Thornton

•Price: Free entry

•More info: Market details

A proper small-town produce stop: vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers, honey, jams, eggs and seedlings, most described as organic or chemical-free. The nearby Fosterton Farm Bakery bread van gives the detour an obvious purpose.

•When: Saturday 19 September, time not stated

•Where: 205 Dowling Street, Dungog

•Price: Purchases are cash only

•More info: Market details

The weekly Hunter Valley market is set among the vineyards at 691 Hermitage Road, with fresh produce, locally made goods, gourmet food stalls and live acoustic music. The official listing currently describes the market as weekly on Saturdays, so check the live page before setting out.

•When: Saturday 19 September, time not stated

•Where: 691 Hermitage Road, Pokolbin

•Price: Free

•More info: Market details

A two-day coastal trail-running weekend with 12km, 24km, 42km and 57km options. It is a local event at Fingal Bay, whether you are lining up or just there to cheer on the ambitious people in your life.

•When: Saturday 19 September–Sunday 20 September, start time not stated

•Where: 3 Marine Drive, Fingal Bay

•Price: See organiser registration page

•More info: Race details

Rotary’s annual spring garden weekend opens gardens across Maitland, with Devonshire teas at a featured garden and a plant stand raising funds for local causes. Tickets cover all gardens and can also be bought at individual gardens on the day.

•When: Saturday 19 September–Sunday 20 September, 9:30am–4:00pm

•Where: Various gardens, Maitland

•Price: See ticket details; cash and card purchases available at gardens

•More info: Event details

A 60-minute stage show for the younger members of the household, with performances across both weekend days. The Civic has practical information on babies-in-arms tickets, booster seats and pram parking.

•When: Saturday 19 September, 9:30am, 12:30pm or 3:30pm; Sunday 20 September, 9:30am or 12:30pm

•Where: Civic Theatre Newcastle, Newcastle

•Price: See booking page

•More info: Choose a performance

A deliberately niche Saturday-night option at Newcastle United Sports Club. The promoter describes it as a highly physical, violent show, which is useful information before committing the group chat to it.

•When: Saturday 19 September, 7:00pm

•Where: Newcastle United Sports Club, Newcastle

•Price: See booking page

•More info: Event details

Maitland Park hosts a full-day Show n Shine marking 50 years since the 1976 Bathurst race, with hundreds of Toranas, food, market and trade stalls, and local charities in the frame. You do not need to know a carburettor from a casserole dish to enjoy the colour, stories and people-watching.

When: Sunday, 20 September, 8:00am–4:00pm

Where: Maitland Park, Park Street, South Maitland ·

FREE for spectators Direct event page/

For a quieter final-weekend outing, this free MAC yapang exhibition brings together five artists working from the Australian landscape in their own plein-air ways. Pair it with a lakeside stroll or a coffee and call it a very respectable afternoon.

•When: Monday 14 September–Sunday 20 September, 9:00am–3:00pm

•Where: MAC yapang (Museum of Art and Culture, yapang), Booragul

•Price: Free

•More info: Exhibition details

A heads-up for next Saturday: this free, all-ages outdoor afternoon brings Glycerine, Smacked Youth, The Janes, Empress, STOMP and DJ Big Rex to Speers Point. Food vendors and a bar with locally sourced beer, wine and cider are on site, but bookings are essential and spots are limited.

•When: Saturday 26 September, 3:00pm–9:00pm

•Where: Multi-Arts Pavilion (MAP mima), Speers Point

•Price: Free; bookings essential

•More info: Book your place

Recommendation:

If The Newy List is what's on this week, Marram.com.au is the slower companion to it, a Sunday letter about the people and places that make this stretch of coast what it is.

Know someone who'd love this? Forward it on, they can subscribe free at thenewylist.com

Have a local event or business you think we should feature? Just hit reply, we read every message.

That's your week, Big game in NZ coming up Sunday. Go the Knights! See you out there. 🙌

The Newy List