Lawson’s Larrikins & Legends
The Grenfell Henry Lawson Festival of Arts Committee would like to warmly welcome everyone to the 2026 Festival. Our theme this year is Larrikins and Legends.
This is the 67th Henry Lawson Festival and it’s been 69 years since the first Festival making it one of the longest running Arts Festivals in NSW. In 2026 we are looking forward to building on the strong history and success of past Festivals.
Henry Lawson wrote about ordinary people in extraordinary ways — the battlers, the bush families, the storytellers, the quiet heroes and the cheeky larrikins who could always find humour even when life was tough. His characters live on because they are real. We still know them. We still are them.
We meet them in The Drover’s Wife, standing strong against hardship.
We laugh with Mitchell, spinning yarns that grow taller with every telling.
We chase chaos with The Loaded Dog, a reminder that mischief and mateship often walk hand in hand.
And we hear Lawson’s poetry echo through verses of resilience, fairness, humour and heart.
But this festival is not only about the Larrikins and Legends on the page — it is also about the Larrikins & Legends of Grenfell.
This weekend, as music fills the streets, as the parade rolls down Main Street, as stories are told and retold, we invite you to celebrate both the past and the present.
Whether you come as a visitor or a local, a performer or a spectator, a larrikin or a legend — you belong here.
Welcome to Lawson’s Larrikins & Legends.
May your stories grow taller, your laughter louder, and your memories last long after the billy has boiled.
Belinda Power
President
The Grenfell Henry Lawson
Festival of Arts
