June 23 2025 | CanberraDigest

Hello Canberra,

📆 Today: It’s Monday, June 23.

🌧️ Weather: 15° and a 50% chance of a shower or two. The rain will keep things milder overnight, with a low of 5°.

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📆 This Week in Canberra

Here are the highlights for the last week of June:

Rapt in Felt: Canberra Region Feltmakers is hosting Rapt in Felt 2025—a two-day celebration of all things felt at the Kett Street Scout Hall in Kambah. Expect a Street Felt Fashion Parade with handmade garments, accessories, and jewellery; a felt shop selling hand-felted treasures; and mini-workshops for anyone curious about felting. Details here.

Tricks and Train Paws Party: Haig Park is going full circus—and dogs are taking centre stage. Think colourful decorations, fun vibes, and a day packed with tricks, treats, and tail wags. Details here.

TEDxCanberra Adventure: Join TEDxCanberra, She Shapes History and the National Portrait Gallery for an exclusive evening event celebrating more than a dozen powerful and inspiring Australian women. Take part in a self-guided storytelling trail, with guides at each stop sharing fascinating stories. Details here.

Vintage Clothing Kilo Sale: Browse racks of vintage clothing—all sold by the kilo. It’s ticketed on Friday evening and Saturday morning, but I’d go to the free entry that starts Saturday at 1pm. Details here.

Tuggeranong Lake Pride Event: Diversity ACT and Tuggeranong Arts Centre are celebrating Pride Month in Tuggeranong this weekend. Join them for a walk, bike ride or jog along Tuggeranong Lake, followed by a cuppa, some light refreshments, and a craft session. Details here.

Coming Up: 🥃 The Whisky Show

Try over 80 whiskies from around the world, including Scotland, the USA, Australia and more. Favourite brands and distilleries will be there, along with a number of bottlings new to the Australian market. Sessions run for three hours, and each ticket includes unlimited whisky tastings and a $20 meal voucher to use at the festival food stands. Details here.

Stage: 🔦 Marrow

Australian Dance Theatre’s powerful new work takes us back to the Dreamtime. The company’s ensemble wields handheld smoke machines, chasing beams of light while digging into the stories that we weren’t taught in school. Choreographer Daniel Riley teams up with Kaurna/Ngarrindjeri Elder Uncle Moogy Sumner AM and composer James Howard for an hour of powerful dance. Details here

🔨 Some things to do:

Women’s Shed Canberra: The Women’s Shed Canberra runs regular workshops at their “shed” in Whitlam and at Goodies Junction. Upcoming workshops include Furniture Upcycling, Upholstery, Cat Furniture, and home maintenance classes covering various odd jobs around the house. All workshops include the required tools and expert guidance. Details here.

Scrap Society: Work on a collage or scrapbook in a welcoming and relaxed environment—perfect for socialising and getting crafty. The next Scrap Society event is happening at the end of July. I believe the last event was a sell-out. Details here.

Magical Pub Quiz: Bring along your smartest Potterheads for the Durham’s annual Magical Pub Quiz. Details here.

Tidbits and News

No Ice Rink?: It looks like the ice rink won’t be part of this year’s Winter in the City festival. Last year there was ice skating and snow play in Glebe Park. This year’s festival features free daily performances from July 5 to 19 on the Grand Winter Stage on City Walk. Will that be enough to draw people into the city? I’ll try to find out why the ice skating was axed. The festival was created to boost visitor numbers to the city centre during one of Canberra’s quieter months. Details here.

Food Safety Closures: I’ve noticed an increase in the number of food businesses being closed by ACT Health for food safety breaches. Belconnen Chicken at Westfield and Florey Bakery have both recently received notices and are currently closed.

Telehealth Sexual Health Appointments: Canberra Sexual Health Clinic at Canberra Hospital in Woden has started offering testing over the phone. If you’ve previously attended the centre and are symptom-free, you can now organise a test by phone to be done at any ACT Pathology collection centre. This should make it easier to access routine checks for those living outside the Woden area. The Telehealth service will be trialled for three months. Details here.

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