High Noon

I have never seen as many pedigree dogs within the confines of the Northcote stretch of High Street as I did on the day of the High Noon festival in September. Whether that’s a gauge of how cashed up Northcote has become or how laid back the festival is I have no idea but it is what it is.
Inexact dog barometer aside, the High Noon festival is a damn good free festival — offering food, music, arts and crafts — in a very interesting area which does a very good — and hugely well organised — job of showing off Northcote’s many talents.
Boasting three sponsored stages with an eclectic music lineup of local bands covering genres including reggae and rock; countless pop up food and craft stalls; and a very lovely crowd, High Noon festival is definitely worth a visit.
The festival draws so many people to the area that local bars can become hugely crowded and there is the occasional queue for food, but all in all High Noon is a hugely well executed free festival that I would definitely return to next year.

Be aware the date of this festival fluctuates and that they’ve even skipped years in the recent past due to council problems.
This was a great festival; food and drink and music and people all the way down High Street to Separation. What happened was that the Brunswick Street Festival got shut down a number of years back and the High Street Festival (then called High Vibes, but now tamed down to High Noon) kind of picked up from where Brunny St left off. The trouble was, and still is, that Northcote is full of fuckin’ bogan idiots who get too drunk and cause shit in public. So the festival got revamped into this ‘family’ event whereby you can’t even get a fucking drink on the street. It’s heavily policed and the vibe is really just people spending too long in queues to get a warm beer in a plastic cup in an overcrowded bar. High Noon is indicative of a money grubbing council (I’ve heard they charge any venues and bars per square metre of pavement they want to inhabit on the day) over-​complicating what could be a good time. By removing trust from the equation and not treating adults like adults, they’ve lost my vote and I won’t bother with this sorry excuse for a ‘festival’ ever again.
More like a festival of wowsers and police.

Northcote is pretty much hipster central. For those yet to venture over to the north side; think quirky cafes, organic supermarkets and edgy locals.
So it’s only natural that Northcote’s annual street festival, High Noon, was absolutely packed with Melbourne’s trendiest. The streets were teeming with energy as hordes of vintage stalls, delicious multicultural delights and a thriving music scene jostled for the crowd’s attention. Inside the cordoned off drinking areas, merry folk queued for ciders under the sun, whilst munching on smashed avocado ciabattas and kangaroo burgers. This being Northcote there was, of course, only the most gourmet fare on offer. Not a sausage sizzle in sight. Local pubs, such as the Wesley Anne and the Peacock, were packed to the limit, with bands playing to packed dance floors late into the night.
Held on Sunday the 18^th of September, it’s a date to be penned into your well-​worn leather diary. So pull on your skintight denims, grab your fixie and head on down to High Street Northcote.