Canberra's Weekend Guide: Markets, Winter Festival, Rugby League Action

Canberra’s weekend of 18 and 19 July features the Southern Harvest Canberra Winter Festival at Dairy Road along with the return of the Geek and Pop Culture Expo and two Canberra Raiders Women in League Round matches at GIO Stadium.

July sits in the middle of Canberra’s colder months, when local organisers schedule indoor and outdoor activities that draw on winter themes. The listed events align with that pattern and give residents and visitors a mix of food stalls, collectables and sport on consecutive days.

Markets and festivals

The Southern Harvest Canberra Winter Festival runs across both days with night markets at Dairy Road, fire dancers and live DJ sets. The Queanbeyan Christmas in July Market opens at the Showgrounds on Sunday 19 July and includes winter-themed stalls plus mid-year Christmas treats. Regular weekend markets continue unchanged, with the Southside Farmers Market operating from 7am to 11:30am on Sunday in Phillip and the Haig Park Village Markets running from 8am to 2pm on Sunday in Braddon.

The Geek and Pop Culture Expo also returns for Saturday and Sunday, offering comics, collectables, artist meet-ups and interactive panels. These four events sit within the same two-day window and share no overlapping venues, allowing attendees to move between sites without timetable clashes.

Sport at GIO Stadium

The Canberra Raiders Women in League Round takes place at GIO Stadium on Saturday 18 July. The women’s side plays the Sydney Roosters at 12:40pm and the men’s side faces the South Sydney Rabbitohs at 3pm. Both matches form part of the scheduled round and use the same venue on the same afternoon.

Details for all events appear on the Visit Canberra, HerCanberra and Canberra Digest sites. Residents can check those pages for updated start times, entry conditions and any weather-related changes before heading out.