A huge day of Marrickville Festival 2012

Marrickville Festival 2012, Marrickville and Illawarra Roads

I popped my Marrickville Festival cherry over the weekend with my first outing to the huge inner west street festival.

With the onset of spring, it is truly festival season in Sydney and the muggy weekend weather complied for the most part, certainly improving beverage sales.

Festival crowds on Illawarra Road

Taking over parts of both Marrickville and Illawarra Roads, Marrickville Festival is about as big a street festival as I've ever seen, with a myriad of stalls and colour down the middle of both main roads.

Kids rock climbing

There was plenty of markets type stalls, music, entertainment for the kids, community representation and of course, food, with many a festival favourite to be seen and had.

Fairy floss stall

Deep fried potato spiral

This was actually the very first time I had tried the gimmicky spiral cut potato, deep fried on a skewer, which seem popular at all festivals these days.

With a choice of seasonings, the chilli and paprika gave the lightly battered potato colour and a flavour boost. My spiralled potato was so enjoyable I was left wondering why I've not tried it before.

Pig on the spit at the Feather and Bone stall

The pig roasting on a spit at the Feather and Bone stall did a good job of attracting hungry festival-goers, with healthy queues for their meat filled bun offerings.

Roast pork roll from Feather and Bone stall

The roast pork roll with apple sauce a lettuce seemed a little light on pork and featured an unpleasant helping of cartilage, although the cinnamon tinged apple sauce was a bright spot.

Pickles and preserves from the Cornersmith stall

Popular local café, Cornersmith had samples of their very own pickles and preserves going - the vivid yellow piccalili a total winner - and refreshing blood orange cordial by the plastic glass.

Main music stage

As per the Surry Hills Festival,Glebe Street Fair and Newtown Festival, Marrickville Festival offers a platform for up-and-coming musical talent, often local musicians, to perform on a big stage. The acts we saw through the day ranged from metal to jazz to rap.

Festival crowd in Marrickville Road

The food stalls on Marrickville Road demonstrated the exceptional variety of cuisines available in Marrickville.

Multiculturalism at its best meant Malaysian chicken satay next to Greek loukoumades next to Vietnamese rice paper rolls next to Spanish paella next to Nepalese momos next to Italian piadinas.

Deep frying Greek loukoumades

Grilling chicken satay

Healthy looking salads and wraps

Seafood paella

South American food offerings 

I have Marrickville Festival to thank for my coming across South American arepas for the very first time.

Looking like a very thick tortilla, these ground corn bases straddled the pizza and tortilla concepts and looked pretty tempting (especially the chorizo option).

Empanada with aji sauce

But I was taken by the golden-hued empanadas, fresh out of a deep fryer and recommended eaten with a fresh aji salsa.

Featuring a slightly chewy corn meal casing with a soft pulled beef and vegetable filling, these piping hot babies were easily some of the best and tastiest variation of an empanada I've ever had - I could have had the four all to myself.

Music stage on Illawarra Road

Furniture by Curb Collective

An artfully decorated coffee van

Marrickville Festival 2012 - what a fabulous community event showcasing a very diverse and exciting inner west suburb. I'm looking forward to next year's already!

See more photos on my Facebook page.