Your guide to the best of the Inner West from 9 to 11 October

Good morning, Inner Westies.

Marrickville Music Festival takes over Marrickville Road with six free stages this Sunday, while Craft Week brings open studios, markets and workshops across the Inner West.

Grab your morning coffee and let’s explore the Inner West together.

Have a great weekend,
Jess

Note: Please check to confirm details are accurate with venues, event providers, restaurants and pubs by clicking through to their site. Events are occasionally cancelled at the last minute.

This renovated four-bedroom home on Dobroyd Point looks straight across Iron Cove to the Bay Run. Inside there's a Taj Mahal island kitchen and butler's pantry, every bedroom has an ensuite, and out back a Vergola-covered alfresco area sits above its own pool level.

📍 4 bed / 5 bath / 3 car / 809sqm approx.
👉 Listed with McGrath

Six free stages take over Marrickville Road and its side streets this Sunday. Stay for the last hour, when Polish Club close the Amp’d Up Stage at 5:05pm and La Gati, Cast Iron Kid and XääD wrap up three of the other stages.

Local school bands and choirs get their own stage on Gladstone Street, and the open mic on Alex Trevallion Plaza takes sign-ups from 12pm. Marrickville Road is closed between Illawarra and Victoria roads all day and parking is scarce, so leave the car at home.

📆 Sun 11 Oct / 12pm – 6pm
📍 Marrickville Road ♿️
👉 See the full lineup and set times

The team behind King Street Crawl is bringing Summer Crawl back for a second year on Sunday 24 January, with hundreds of bands, DJs and artists across 40-plus venues in Newtown, Enmore, Erskineville and Marrickville. Venues, lineups and pop-up parties will be announced over the next few months.

Entry is free with an RSVP, and if one venue is full, move on to the next. Get the date in your diary now.

📆 Sun 24 Jan 2027
📍 Newtown, Enmore, Erskineville & Marrickville
👉 Find out more

People queue in Mortdale for The Naked Baker’s maple croffle eggs benedict. From this Saturday 10 October, it’s on Addison Road too, with special treats promised across its grand opening weekend.

Marrickville gets a pastry of its own, a miso caramel apple turnover with nutmeg custard and croissant-laminated layers. There are also two drinks made just for this store, a Vietnamese salted cold foam latte and a blueberry matcha, and 100 seats if you want to stay a while.

📍 23–29 Addison Road, Marrickville
🕖 Mon–Sat, 7am – 3pm; Sun, 8am – 3pm
👉 Find out more

🤹 School Holidays Circus Workshop (ages 4–9)
Kids try acrobatics and other circus skills that test balance and coordination; $5 a child, bookings essential.
📆 Fri 9 Oct / 10am, 11am & 12pm
📍 South Eveleigh

💃 KPop Demon Hunters Dance Workshop (ages 4–8)
Little Dancers act out the film’s story through movement and music, then finish with craft and games; $50.
📆 Fri 9 & Sat 10 Oct / 10:15am – 11:30am
📍 Glebe Town Hall

⛵ Kids on Deck: Viking Maker Space (ages 4–12)
Write names in runes, emboss jewellery and build a longship that floats; included with a paid museum ticket.
📆 Fri 9 – Sun 11 Oct / 10:30am – 4pm
📍 Australian National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour ♿️

👽 An Alien Adventure with Horizon Theatre (ages 4+)
A puppet show about a crash-landed alien learning about Earth, with songs and dance; free, registration required.
📆 Fri 9 Oct / 11am – 11:45am
📍 Ashfield Library

🎤 Inner West Talent Quest Finals
Eight young performers aged 5 to 12 compete for $1,000 in prizes; audience tickets are $15.
📆 Fri 9 Oct / 5pm – 6:30pm
📍 Flight Path Theatre, Marrickville

🧸 Play School Live: Humpty’s Big Celebration (ages 1+)
Big Ted, Little Ted, Jemima, Kiya and Fergus mark Play School’s 60th in a 40-minute concert; from $39.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / 10am, 12pm & 2pm
📍 Seymour Centre, Chippendale ♿️

🛠️ Kids’ DIY: Emergency Board (ages 5–12)
Kids make a board for emergency contacts and phone numbers, with a guardian alongside; free, bookings essential.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / Rozelle 11am, 12pm & 1pm; Alexandria 10:30am & 12:30pm
📍 Bunnings Rozelle and Bunnings Alexandria

🏊 Family Splash Day
Free pool entry, an inflatable obstacle course, an aqua class and Terry the Turtle, with live music from noon.
📆 Sun 11 Oct / 9am – 4pm
📍 Ashfield Aquatic Centre ♿️

💍 Tweens and Teens: Make a Ring in a Day (ages 10–17)
Saw, texture and solder a copper, brass or aluminium ring from scratch; under-14s come with a supporting adult, $110.
📆 Sun 11 Oct / 10am – 3pm
📍 SquarePeg Studios, Marrickville

🐶 Puppy Play for Minis
Ten-minute sessions of gentle petting and supervised play with toy poodles; bookings essential.
📆 Sun 11 Oct / Sessions from 10am to 11:45am
📍 Broadway Sydney, Glebe

🌳 Explorers Play in the Park
Plumtree Children’s Services runs a free outdoor playgroup for little ones; RSVP on its website.
📆 Mon 12 Oct / 9:30am – 11am
📍 Jarvie Park, Marrickville

🏮 Creative Workshop for Neurodivergent Teens and Carers (ages 12–17)
Young people and their carers design their own lanterns, with materials and snacks supplied; free, bookings essential.
📆 Wed 14 Oct / 10am – 11:30am
📍 Diverse Art Therapy, Newtown

🧵 Flip Fashion Forever
A weekly drop-in where high school students from Canada Bay schools upcycle clothes and learn beginner sewing; free.
📆 Wed 14 Oct / 3:30pm – 4:30pm
📍 Five Dock Library

🌿 Bush School at Callan Park (ages 2.5–5)
A weekly term program of bushcraft, outdoor play and stories for little ones and a carer; $29 per pair.
📆 Thu 15 Oct / 9:30am – 11:30am
📍 The Summerhouse, Callan Park, Lilyfield

ALL WEEKEND

🏓 South Eveleigh Pickleball Pop-Up
Free paddles and balls for casual games, no booking needed, daily until 15 October.
📆 Fri 9 – Sun 11 Oct / 8am – 6pm
📍 Innovation Plaza, South Eveleigh

🧵 Beginners Learn to Sew Clothing Course
A six-week course from machine set-up to pattern reading and fitting; a few places left in each class.
📆 Starts Fri 9 Oct, 10am; Sat 10 Oct, 10am or 1:30pm; or Sun 11 Oct, 1:30pm
📍 Bobbin and Ink, Stanmore

🌕 Luna, A Journey to the Moon (ages 10+)
A 60-minute VR walk through the Apollo 11 mission, from astronaut training to the Moon’s surface; must be 130cm+.
📆 Wed to Sun until 30 Dec / Sessions every 20 minutes, 10am – 6pm
📍 Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park ♿️

🐠 Shipwreck Odyssey
Follow the ghost ship Jenny Lind beneath the waves past projected sea life; free on Friday, $5 weekend sessions.
📆 Fri 9 – Sun 11 Oct / Fri 10am – 5pm; Sat sessions 9:15am – 12:15pm; Sun sessions 10:15am – 3:45pm
📍 Carriageworks, Eveleigh

🖼️ GAS SYD Presents the NXT1
Thirty independent artists respond to ‘Art Moving Forward’, with live painting and music on Saturday from 1pm to 3pm.
📆 Fri 9 – Wed 14 Oct / Fri 11am – 7pm; Sat & Sun 10am – 7pm
📍 Studio 551, Newtown

FRIDAY

✂️ Time Capsule Collage Workshop
Artist Kirsten Castorina guides adults through a mixed-media collage about what’s precious to them; free.
📆 Fri 9 Oct / 1pm – 2:30pm
📍 Five Dock Library

🎮 Redfern Roman Cancel
A fortnightly fighting-game tournament for Guilty Gear Strive and other anime fighters, open to all levels; from $15.
📆 Fri 9 Oct / 6pm – 11pm
📍 Redfern Community Centre

📖 The Chaser: The Final Edition
Craig Reucassel hosts Arion McNicoll, Charles Firth and Rahni Sadler for the book launch.
📆 Fri 9 Oct / 6:30pm – 8pm (doors 6pm)
📍 Gleebooks, Glebe

🤠 Cowboy Country Line Dancing
A line-dancing lesson from 7pm, then an open dance floor from 8pm; $20.
📆 Fri 9 Oct / 7pm – 9pm
📍 The Imperial, Erskineville

✏️ Nudenight Life Drawing
Lots of short poses, from one minute to 15, with a live model; open to beginners, $29 online.
📆 Fri 9 Oct / 7pm – 9pm
📍 Doodler, Marrickville

SATURDAY

✏️ Saturday Morning Life Drawing
Choose a three-hour single-pose session from 9am ($45) or the standard model session from 10am ($27).
📆 Sat 10 Oct / 9am – 12pm
📍 Peach Black Gallery, Chippendale

🏠 Georgia Draws A House Shop Opening
The illustrator opens her shop with a house-drawing workshop at 9:30am, then junk journalling from 11am, plus fairy bread.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / From 9:30am
📍 Georgia Draws A House, Annandale

🖼️ Addi Road Artists’ Open Studios
Resident artists open their studios for Addi Road’s 50th, with a sausage sizzle for the food pantry from 11am.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / 10am – 4pm
📍 Addison Road Community Centre, Marrickville

🧵 Boomerang Bags Working Bee
Help turn donated fabric into reusable bags; no sewing skills needed, snacks supplied, free for Inner West residents.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / 10am – 2pm
📍 Inner West Sustainability Hub, Summer Hill

🪡 Sashiko Sewing and Repair with Yoshi
Yoshi Ito teaches traditional Japanese stitching to mend and reuse textiles; from $85.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / 10am – 1pm
📍 Reverse Garbage, Marrickville

💻 Hacktoberfest: Capture the Flag
Intercept and decode messages between bots on a virtual network in a free cybersecurity challenge, with swag.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / 10:15am – 2:15pm
📍 Darling Square Library, Haymarket ♿️

💬 Friendcraft 2.0: Friendship Not Left to Chance
Utopia Rising uses social experiments and real-life scenarios to show how acquaintances become friends; $45, alcohol-free.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / 4pm – 7pm
📍 Little BIG House, Summer Hill

🛻 Monster Jam World Tour
Ten trucks, including Grave Digger and Sparkle Smash, take on stunts, flips and jumps; pit party gates open 1:30pm.
📆 Sat 10 Oct / 6pm
📍 Accor Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park

SUNDAY

💎 Bedazzle Your Sol de Janeiro Mist
Sample the Cheirosa mists, then decorate a bottle with gems; $10.
📆 Sun 11 Oct / 11am & 12pm
📍 Broadway Sydney, Glebe

🎸 Sunday Sessions: Kirk Burgess
A free rock set beside the pool during the centre’s Family Splash Day.
📆 Sun 11 Oct / 12pm – 3pm
📍 Ashfield Aquatic Centre ♿️

🎧 Pepitos Festival Afterparty (ages 18+)
So Silly Records takes over the courtyard with Reenie, Jerkboy and the Santamaria Brothers; free.
📆 Sun 11 Oct / 2pm – late
📍 Pepitos, Marrickville

COMING UP

🎨 Art with Heart: Between Streets and Minds
A free community art fair with local artists and makers; works are for sale, with payment by cash or PayID.
📆 Mon 12 Oct / 6pm – 8pm
📍 Newtown Neighbourhood Centre

🀄 Nø Flowers Mahjong Club (ages 18+)
Beginners learn from scratch, or experienced players join a faster intermediate table; $33, bookings only.
📆 Wed 14 Oct / 6pm – 7:30pm & 8pm – 9:30pm
📍 Burwood Chinatown Night Market

🖼️ Glebe Art Show
The Glebe Art Society’s annual community show, with works for sale and the $3,000 Robin Lawrence Open Art Prize.
📆 Thu 15 – Sun 25 Oct / Daily from 10am
📍 Tramsheds, Forest Lodge

🎤 House of Hymns
Sing Madonna, Kylie or Chappell Roan backed by a 12-person live choir; $38.
📆 Thu 15 Oct / 7pm – 10pm
📍 Pleasure Club, Newtown

🍻 The Shakesbeer Sessions: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Pub Shakespeare Company plays the comedy with singalongs and a drink in hand; $32.
📆 Thu 15 Oct (Balmain) & Fri 16 Oct (Annandale) / 7:30pm – 9:30pm
📍 Dick’s Hotel, Balmain; The Annandale Hotel

🏡 Makers Frontyard Trail
Local makers sell ceramics, jewellery, honey, chocolates and more from their front yards; the stall map is on the website.
📆 Sat 17 Oct / 10am – 4pm
📍 Front yards across the Inner West

✂️ Snip & Snap: Stop-Motion Collage
Cut out collage pieces, then animate them frame by frame on a phone; $60, or $40 concession.
📆 Sun 18 Oct / 12:30pm – 3pm
📍 Monster Mouse Studios, Marrickville

🎧 Nickelback Album Listening Party (ages 18+)
A playback of the new album Everything Under the Sun; $10 includes a merch pack and a drink token.
📆 Thu 29 Oct / 5pm – 7pm
📍 Young Henrys, Newtown

Sydney Craft Week runs until Sunday 18 October, with open studios, markets and workshops all over the Inner West this weekend.

ALL WEEKEND

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

👉 See the full Sydney Craft Week program

Factory Theatre, Enmore Theatre and The Vanguard are among eight recipients sharing $658,364 through Sound NSW’s All-Ages Live Music Venue Program. The local projects include a monthly Factory Floor series, three Enmore events with triple j Unearthed, and three Vanguard shows with Heaps Decent.

👉 Find out more

A free community barbecue is coming to Ashfield Park on Sunday 18 October, with music, cultural performances and children’s activities. The BBQ for Multiculturalism will include Shaoxing Chinese Opera, the Ukrainian Refugee Choir, face painting and the Magic Yellow Bus.

👉 Find out more

Sunday Sessions has begun, with local musicians rotating through Council’s aquatic centres until 28 March 2027. After this weekend’s Ashfield session, Abigail Wighton plays Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre on 18 October and Kimberly Bear plays Annette Kellerman Aquatic Centre on 25 October.

👉 Find out more

The courts at Robyn Webster Recreation Centre in Tempe have been resurfaced, with fresh line markings for netball, basketball and pickleball. Council says they’re ready to play on.

👉 Find out more

Canada Bay Council wants feedback on design controls to guide how new buildings fit into Drummoyne. The proposed changes cover the area’s character but cannot override the State Government’s low- and mid-rise housing rules. Comments close at 5pm on Thursday 22 October.

👉 Find out more

Burwood Council is asking for feedback on its draft disability inclusion plan for 2026–2030. People with disability, their families and carers helped shape the plan, which sets out actions to make the area more accessible. You can read it and comment through Burwood Council’s consultation page until Thursday 22 October.

👉 Find out more

🥞 Messina Eats: Happyfield
Haberfield’s Happyfield takes over Messina’s Marrickville carpark for two days, starting on its sixth birthday. Get in early for the RIBwich, which Messina reckons won’t last, and the Happyville Meal made just for this pop-up. Messina is doing dessert and drinks. RSVP on Partiful.
📆 Fri 9 & Sat 10 Oct / 12pm – 10pm
📍 Messina carpark, Marrickville

🥮 Emperor’s Puffs Are Back, Temporarily
The puffs return today, Friday 9 October, for a limited run from Emperor’s Garden’s BBQ shop at 213–215 Thomas Street, Haymarket. It’s a temporary setup. They must have paid the ATO and sorted out that tax bill.

🍣 JuJu Opens in Balmain
JuJu’s October soft opening brings prawn toast, spanner crab yaki udon and massaman beef ribs to Big Tree House, 266 Darling Street. Bookings get 15% off throughout October; call 0451 878 266. Open Wed–Sun, 5pm – 10pm.

🍰 Miss Sina Plans More Space
Miss Sina in Dulwich Hill is expanding, with more seating and room for book clubs, community events and dinner pop-ups. No opening date yet.

🍟 Gluten-Free Fryers at Petersham Bowling Club
Grange Gully Bistro’s fryers are now entirely gluten-free, from the schnitzels and nuggets to the chips, battered fish and calamari. Check with the bistro if you have strict dietary needs.

COMING UP

🍝 Gnocchi Cooking Class at Favola
Make gnocchi by hand in this class, then eat it with a sauce from the menu; prosecco included, $99.
📆 Sat 24 Oct / 11am
📍 Favola, Newtown

🍝 Mum & Me at Osteria Mucca
A second night of Elvis cooking the dishes his mum Hilda made him, including the Cariddi family lasagne; $110.
📆 Mon 9 Nov / 6:30pm – 9:30pm
📍 Osteria Mucca, Newtown

🍺 Save the Date: Inner West Ale Trail Festival
The Inner West Ale Trail festival runs from 6 to 15 November, with special beers and passport stamps; the full program is still to come.

HAPPY HOUR HEROES

🍹 Alfred Hotel, Camperdown | Every day | 4pm – 6pm | $6.50 house beers and wines, $7 craft beers and $15 MO&CO cocktails, plus $14 margaritas Monday to Thursday - see venue for terms and conditions.

🍷 Mali Ston Wine Bar, Dulwich Hill | Wednesday to Sunday | 4pm – 6pm | $25 for a crispy chicken bun or linguine with butter and anchovies, plus a glass of red, white or sparkling wine; crema catalana and wine $18 - see venue for terms and conditions.

🍸 Super 44, Newtown | Wednesday to Sunday | 5pm – 6pm (4pm – 5pm on weekends) | $13 Super Margs and $7 Tecate lagers - see venue for terms and conditions.

🍺 The Toxteth, Glebe | Monday to Friday | 4pm – 6pm | $7 local beers and house wines - see venue for terms and conditions.

GET YOUR EVENT ON THE LIST 🎸

Our deadline is the close of business on Wednesday for each Friday edition.