This week InSider speculates on a music festival returning to the park lands, reveals our least favourite April Fools jokes and dares to ask have Hot Cross Buns gone too far?

This week, a confidential item on the Adelaide City Council’s meeting calendar took InSider’s fancy, named ‘Arts and Culture Music Festival 2025, Bartels Road Closure’.

After a quick search of the OurAdelaide website, which the council uses to consult the public, we found out an event organiser has applied to stage the two-day festival in Rymill Park, King Rodney Park and on a portion of Bartels Road. It says the festival is “yet to be announced” but features “Australian and international artists and with a focus on showcasing South Australian produce”.

Now, what music festival, with a focus on showing off local food and wine, would disturb the peace of residents on Bartels Road between East Terrace and Dequetteville Terrace with a week-long road closure? Hmm…

Before the double doors shut on our whistful reporter and the other victims of Town Hall Tuesdays, Councillor Mary Couros told the meeting she thought the topic should be out in the public for discussion, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Harvest Rock, sorry, arts and culture music festival’s potential return remains a poorly-kept secret shrouded in newsroom speculation from Waymouth to Grenfell Street.

What we know so far is that the community were consulted on a six-day road closure with two different options for the festival weekend: either Saturday October 25 and Sunday October 26 or Saturday November 1 and Sunday November 2. So if the event is to return, those will be the springtime dates to mark on your calendar.

In August last year, festival organisers officially axed the 2024 iteration of Harvest Rock, and it later came out in parliament that the festival organisers were unable to secure a headliner.

It was the fourth festival run by the promoter Secret Sounds that was cancelled in 2024, joining Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival and Spilt Milk. Other South Australian festivals that pulled the plug for 2024 and 2025 include touring festival Groovin’ the Moo, and we’ve had radio silence on the Vintage Vibes front since its 2024 iteration was said to be ‘postponed’ but no new dates resurfaced.

InSider asked the state government if Harvest Rock would return to Rymill and King Rodney Parks in 2025, if they’re still working with Secret Sounds (which is partially owned by Live Nation) and if the landscape for festivals has improved since its last iteration was cancelled.

We – unsurprisingly – didn’t get our answers.

What we were told by a spokesperson is........

© InDaily