Some of the best things in a beach town never make it onto a website. This one was taped to a pole on the Cronulla promenade: a home printed sheet announcing the Painters by the Sea spring season art expo, Sunday 27 September, from 12.30pm until late afternoon, at the spot the notice calls the South of France, near Bobby's at the southern end of Cronulla Beach. Two small photographs on the sheet show what to expect: a paved spot by the water, easels and canvases set out in the open, people wandering between them, and the ocean doing the backdrop for free. It is plein air painting in its oldest form, the sea in front, the picture taking shape while you watch, and the painter right there to talk to. Money raised goes to Relay For Life, the Cancer Council's community fundraiser, which the Sutherland Shire has run for twenty five years, so an afternoon with the painters is a view of Cronulla taking shape in front of you and a contribution to cancer research in the same brushstroke.
And the painters have picked a big weekend for it. CronullaFest opens on Friday evening, 5pm to 9pm, with amusement rides and food trucks in Cronulla Park, then runs Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 4pm across the park and Cronulla Street, with more than a hundred market stalls, more than fifty food trucks and vendors, rides and entertainment for the whole family. So make Sunday the full day: a morning among the stalls, lunch from a truck, then walk south along the water from the park to find the easels. Bring a hat, and take your time.
Sources and links
Our short take: the details are from the organisers' printed notice at Cronulla, photographed by Earth to Sea News on 21 September 2026; CronullaFest dates from the festival's own site. Photographs: Cronulla Pavilion, Oliver Strewe; the beach and the notice, Earth to Sea News originals.
- Sutherland Shire Relay For Life, Cancer Council Where the money goes.
- CronullaFest 2026 Friday 25 to Sunday 27 September, Cronulla Park and Cronulla Street: stalls, food trucks, rides and the programme.
