Looking to fill in your summer calendar? If you’re anything like us you’ll be trying to keep the holiday vibes going as long as possible and jam-packing those weekends to the fullest before reality sets in again. And saving us all from the sweltering heat that’s usually associated with the beginning of the year is SCOOP!, a new ice cream-inspired festival coming to the Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast.
With an entire ice cream village dedicated to frozen goodness involved, you’d think that would be enough wouldn’t you—but it gets better. Also coming to HOTA for the festival is world-class entertainment featuring circus, cabaret and acrobatic performers.
Taking over the culture and entertainment precinct from Friday 15 until Sunday 17 January, SCOOP! will run as multiple ticketed sessions over the weekend priced at just $28 per adult. Festival goers will have up to three and a half hours to explore all the performances, ice cream delights, pop-up beer gardens, live music and sideshow rides. Hopefully that will also give you enough time to lick your way through the 30 ice cream vendors in the Ice Cream Village, including Ipswich’s Ungermann Brother’s, Burleigh’s vegan CocoWhip and Brisbane-based La Macelleria Gelateria.
Enough about ice cream though, let's talk about the entertainment. SCOOP! will feature world-renowned ensembles to keep you amused as you lick your way through dessert, including Company 2—who are scheduled to tightrope across Lake Evandale, Flipside Circus, Hoopla Clique and the Gold Coast Mermaids Synchronised Swimming Club.
Bonus, for those who prefer alcoholic tipples to ice cream, for the 6pm to 9pm session on Friday and Saturday the festival turns into CLUB SCOOP!, complete with boozy ice cream. The entertainment during these sessions will also be adults-only, with drag glam team the Thicc Shake Crew joining the line up along with The Space Cowboy who holds 55 Guinness World Records for his weird and wonderful talents—you will be shocked and amazed.
Also amongst the ticket options is the Ultimate Ice Cream Experience ticket. Priced at $120, it’ll score you the chance to sit down to a five-course degustation of sweet and savoury ice cream-inspired dishes. You can check out all the ticket options, as well as everything you’ll need to know, here.
The Details
What: SCOOP!
When: Friday 15–Sunday 17 January
Where: Home of the Arts (HOTA), Surfers Paradise
Find out more here.
You should also mark this massive beer festival hitting the Gold Coast in your calendar.
Image credit: Sarah Gualtieri