The Lost Lanes festival reimagines hidden or forgotten spaces in our city for one night, while also leaving longer lasting memories. So far, these legacies have been in the form of large-scale laneway murals, which have become stand-alone city attractions.

Lost Lanes is in its fourth year – 2018 + 2019 events were held in the Wagga Wagga laneway, Cadell Place – which runs behind Fitzmaurice Street in the CBD. In 2020 Lost Lanes was delivered as an online, virtual event, due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Lost Lanes returns to a physical event in 2021 and will be held on Saturday 26 June from 4pm to 9pm. This year’s festival will be staged slightly different to previous years, activating small clusters across a larger footprint in the CBD. There will also be the inclusion of a major ‘headline’ event element, a pop-up ice skating rink, which will remain in the city for two weeks after the event – throughout the June/July school holidays.

The festival will be a trail of pop-up activations in laneways, car parks, open spaces and other CBD nooks and crannies. The festival has always centred around core Arts, Eats and Beats experiences and this year those experiences will align to the theme of ‘gloWW’ (play on the word glow and Wagga Wagga with two ‘w’s’ at the end). Gloww plays on the idea of casting light and luminosity across our city.

This year's 2021 Art, Eats and Beats experiences include:

Art: light projections by Wagga Wagga digital artist Alice Peacock, interactive light-up activities, neon sign artworks, indigenous art display, glow-in-the-dark roving performers, Wagga Wagga LED hula-hoop performers

Eats: street food/festival vendors, including bao buns, fairy floss burritos, smoked meats, slider burgers, grilled cheese toasties, hot waffles, paella + gozleme. There’s also winter boozy drink offerings, including mulled wine using local wine, warm butter whiskey and citrus gin cocktails using local spirits + warm apple cider using local apples.

Beats: Wagga Wagga raised and Australian renowned DJ Nina Las Vegas, Melbourne indie rock bands Creature Fear and Eastbound Buzz – both up-and-coming bands through Triple J’s Unearthed program and both have band members with connections to Wagga Wagga (i.e. grew up in Wagga Wagga).

Plus, local DJs and acoustic performers.

Each experience is about providing a mix of unique and interactive arts, eats and beats elements contributing to a memorable experience for the festival-goer and overall uniqueness of the festival.

Lost Lanes in 2021 has a festival footprint that extends along Baylis and Fitzmaurice streets in Wagga Wagga’s CBD.
Check out the event map and zones over on the GloWW trail page.

This year laneway folk will follow a trail of pop-up activations in laneways, open spaces, vacant buildings and other nooks and crannies in our Wagga Wagga CBD.

Check out the event map and plan your night out. There’s no one way or start or finish point, laneway folk can choose their own Lost Lanes adventure.

Lost Lanes is a late afternoon/evening event, starting at 4pm and finishing at 9pm on Saturday 26 June, 2021. For the safety of festival-goers, NO entry is permitted into the festival ground before 4pm.

Entry to Lost Lanes is FREE! Purchases of ice skating tickets, food, drinks, merchandise and any other items inside the event ground is at your own expense.

Each site at Lost Lanes will comply with current health and safety Covid-related regulations. A Covid-safe plan has been developed for the event and will be enforced on the evening by staff and contractors. QR codes will be available to check-in to the event.

Skate Wagga Wagga tickets can be purchased through the official ticketing website, or in person at the on-site ticketing office at the Victory Memorial Gardens.

Due to event licences and development application, alcohol is NOT to be brought into the festival ground.
There will be a great range of food + drink vendors available at the festival and we encourage festival-goers to support these vendors. Additional eat + drink businesses in nearby Baylis and Fitzmaurice streets will also be open during the festival.

Event organisers have worked with food vendors to encourage accommodating a range of dietary requirements. It was up to each vendor to determine their menu for the festival.

A full list of food vendors and a sample of their menus can be found on the Lost Lanes website.

No. Please follow event signage and stick to footpaths and designated event spaces only.

Wagga Wagga’s CBD has numerous large carparks and off-street parking, most with disabled parking included.
Large carparks in walking vicinity of the event ground include:
-Myer carpark off O’Reilly Street (some closures necessary for event)
-Cross Street carpark off Tarcutta Street
-Sturt Mall carpark off Tompson Street
-Johnson Street carpark
-Barrand Street carpark

Disabled toilets will be located at:
-Civic Centre (crn of Baylis and Morrow streets)
-Victory Memorial Gardens toilets (crn of Morrow Street and Ivan Jack Drive)
-Wonderland Lane (hired portable disabled facilities)

In addition, the pop-up ice rink at Lost Lanes permits wheelchairs on the ice. To book tickets head to visitwagga.com.

Lost Lanes is a public event that will be filmed and photographed for promotional purposed for use by Wagga Wagga City Council and any approved third parties. If you do not wish to be filmed or photographed, please make yourself known to event staff.
Personal use of devices for photos and filming is allowed. No commercial filming or photos permitted from the event.
A livestream of the event will also take place on the night, and a recording provided to Wagga Wagga City Council for use after the event as well.

No. Due to food service and the large number of festival-goers expected at the event, dogs are not permitted into the event sites. Service dogs allowed.

Yes. Prams and strollers are permitted into the event sites. However, please note that prams and strollers are subject to security searches.

Hired toilets will be located at each event site (see map here), as well public facilities are located at:  
-Civic Centre (crn of Baylis and Morrow streets)
-Victory Memorial Gardens toilets (crn of Morrow Street and Ivan Jack Drive)

We suggest bringing some cash with you to Lost Lanes. Some food vendors will have EFTPOS services available, however we can’t guarantee all vendors will have EFTPOS facilities.
No ATMs are available in the event sites. However, there are numerous ATMs along Wagga Wagga’s Baylis and Fitzmaurice streets.

In the case of an emergency festival-goers should listen to event staff for further directions.

Emergency evacuation areas for the event are:
Neon Underground: Barrand Street carpark
Verandah Vibes: grassed area Crn of Johnson and Trail Street
StrEAT Market: grassed area Civic Theatre precinct
Central Park: grassed area Civic Theatre precinct
Cellar Door: Cross Street carpark  
Laneway Runway: carpark between Tongaboo Lane and Peter Street  
Cross Roads: carpark off O’Reilly Street
Wonderland Lane: Sturt Mall carpark

Yes. There will be security at each event site for the duration of the event.

If you still have questions about Lost Lanes, please email your question/questions to events@wagga.nsw.gov.au. Please use the subject line: Lost Lanes FAQ. One of our event staff will then be in touch with you to answer your question/questions.