Bonjour Adelaide! Bastille Festival makes its first-ever Aussie detour
Sydney’s famed French celebration is venturing beyond the harbour city for the first time, bringing a slice of French magic to Festival Plaza this winter.
When Vincent Hernandez visited Adelaide last year, something clicked.
The French Event Director behind Sydney’s wildly popular Bastille Festival found himself in a city that felt surprisingly… familiar.
“I was quite amazed when I came to Adelaide to see how similar Adelaide people can be to French people,” Hernandez said.
“The love for food, the love for good wines, the cheeses, the culture is very different to other places in Australia.”
That cultural kinship has led to something unprecedented – Bastille Festival is leaving Sydney for the first time in its history, choosing Adelaide as its first-ever expansion city.
From May 30 to June 1, Festival Plaza will transform into a little pocket of France, complete with five themed villages, each dedicated to different French regions.
Bringing French wine to South Australia, the country’s wine capital, might seem a little unnecessary.
“I know how much people love South Australian wines in Adelaide, so I think it’s going to be funny to see people try something different – and wine that is as great as the wines you guys have,” Hernandez said.
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The Bastille Festival has curated 45 wines from five different French regions, creating what might be the most delicious cultural exchange program imaginable.
Wine enthusiasts can purchase a ‘Wine Passport’ (from $29) that allows them to sample three or five wines from different French regions, moving from village to village on a tasting journey.
Wine isn’t the only star of the show. The festival will showcase over 50 French food specialties across its five regional villages, representing Bordeaux, Champagne and other iconic French regions.
Will there be French food? Mais oui! Photo: Supplied
For the first time, the Bastille Festival is introducing a ‘Food Passport’ ($29 three-stops/$49 five-stops), designed as a culinary tour of France.
“You can grab that passport and tour between each village and sample food to pair with your wine,” Hernandez said.
The five-stop passport entitles holders to two entrees, two mains and a dessert.
“It’s really designed to be a taste of those regions, and so it’s a pretty decent sized portion – like the main is a proper main and you could share it if you wanted to – but it’s more designed for you to enjoy on your own,” he said.
Asked about his personal favourite offering, Hernandez was animated.
“There’s traditional French fondue where they’re pouring it on crusty breads with cured meats – it’s absolutely delicious.”
He also recommended the ‘mitraillette’ – a baguette filled with sliced steak, French fries and a special earthy sauce. The name, he noted, comes from the French word for submachine gun.
And of course, there will be plenty of golden crêpes, freshly baked pastries, oozing raclette and charcuterie boards to satisfy every Francophile’s cravings.
Beyond the food and wine, the Bastille Festival aims to capture that ineffable quality the French call “joie de vivre” – the joy of living.
Hernandez described it as “bringing people together, sharing moments, enjoying the best things in life – food, wine, arts, all these things that we love.”
Book a firepit and get toasting. Photo: Supplied
The Bastille Festival will feature free experiences including street theatre, multicultural dance classes, live entertainment and art exhibitions.
For those seeking something special, the Firepit Garden offers a chance to warm up around your own fire pit while toasting marshmallows ($25 per person).
“It’s a festival for everyone,” Hernandez said. “You can bring the kids, you can come with your friends. The festival spans all through the day and quite late in the evening as well – we don’t close until after 10pm.”
And while visitors will certainly hear plenty of French being spoken – in Sydney, the Bastille Festival attracts over 600,000 people, including many French-Australians – Hernandez said local Adelaide artists will also feature prominently.
“The French attitude around arts is about promoting local arts,” he said.
“It’s not just about bringing French artists and singing in French. It’s also about finding great performers from Adelaide and bringing them to the festival.”
When asked about cultural differences between French and Australian attitudes, Hernandez said, the French are more frank, “like straight to the point, we usually tell you as it is”.
“If you go and dine with your friends in a French house, everyone will be commenting on the food, saying, ‘Oh, I love it this way, but I’ll probably put a bit more salt in that, or I would do it this way.’ No one is offended. If you do that in an Australian house, people will find that a little bit surprising.”
Perhaps this festival is the perfect opportunity for Adelaideans to experience that direct French approach firsthand.
So mark your calendars, Adelaide and head to Festival Plaza for a little corner of France and the opportunity to experience a cultural celebration with an abundance of joie de vivre.
Entry to Bastille Festival is free. For more information and to purchase wine and food passports or Fire Pit Garden ticket, visit the website.
