Sorrento Solstice Festival

Winter months in a coastal town can feel long, but for the third consecutive year, Sorrento’s Winter Solstice Festival ignited Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. Presented by Sorrento’s Chamber of Commerce, the festival ran on 20 June from the afternoon into the evening, featuring food and gift stalls, a family zone with activities for children, large featured LED signage assembled by the foreshore and the annual burning of a six-metre-tall, community-built effigy nicknamed “Bernie”.

Amongst these exhibits were two stages. The smaller of the two, dressed with festoon lighting and a static colour wash, hosted acoustic performances throughout the day, while the main stage showcased local musicians, DJs, and headline artist Bonnie Anderson. Overseeing the festival’s production and technical operations was Jack Jones, owner and manager of Outlook Communications.

Jones has been one of the founding partners of the Solstice Festival since its inception in 2024. As a community-led event, budgets can be tight, and much of the festival runs on sponsorship. Jones’ company, Outlook Communications, is a major sponsor and provided much of the gear for the festival as in-kind support. The remaining crew and suppliers were contracted and overseen by Jones, including lighting designer Ben Rawnsley and laser designer Zac Barrett.

Solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year, after which daylight hours grow progressively longer. Rawnsley’s vision for the main stage was to design a visual representation of the solstice, with fiery yellow and golden light during the day gradually transitioning to blue and white light over the evening. Fixtures were positioned in a ring to represent the sun and then the moon.

Rawnsley’s aim was to create an enticing show, as the main stage was slightly off to the side of the burning effigy, where most people gathered. Placed around the stage were pixel tubes that were programmed with effects to draw the audience’s eyes beyond the performer, creating depth onstage. Scattered between the tubes were RGB pixel blinders, which added colour effects and the punchiness of a blinder, which was especially helpful in creating dynamic impact during the daylight hours.

The lighting package consisted of 16 beamZ Pro Kratos Pixel Tubes and 16 Nutron Dots. A small collection of Ignite300 hybrid moving heads formed a floor package, adding height and movement at the rear of the stage. Above the performers, beamZ Pro Ignite 740 RGB wash beam moving heads created geometric shapes and movement while framing key moments throughout the performances.

The same wash beam fixtures were positioned at stage left and right to provide additional fill and width, while also delivering dynamic moving effects during DJ performances.

Controlling all the elements was a ChamSys MQ250 Stadium Console. “When you need to set up very quickly and just roll with it within half an hour, there’s no console that will beat a ChamSys,” Rawnsley says. He appreciates the console’s workflow and ability to talk to everything with ease.

Like any show, the lighting rig that eventuated was not identical to the original plan. When some static fixtures were swapped for moving heads, Rawnsley was grateful for the ease with which he was able to update the fixture type, its subsequent groups, and record new position palettes without the need to manually update individual cues and programmed faders.

“The entire show was able to transform within about five minutes.” In addition to being a designer, Rawnsley works for Showtools, who supply ChamSys, but his love of the product predates that job by several years. Working alongside Rawnsley was Ethan Stebbins mixing audio using an Allen & Heath Avantis.

Laser designer Zac Barrett was tasked with creating a visual layer that complemented the lighting design without competing with the live performances. Using two Laserworld Purelight PL-10 full-colour IP-rated lasers alongside RTI Piko 33 projectors, Barrett created layered aerial effects that extended the stage beyond its physical footprint.

Rather than treating the lasers as a headline effect, they became an integrated part of the visual design. Warm atmospheric looks gradually transitioned into sharper geometric patterns and sweeping aerial effects as darkness fell, complementing the evolution of Rawnsley’s lighting cues. Barrett also works for AVE, the Australian distributor of Laserworld, beamZ Pro and ChamSys QuickQ lighting control solutions.

Jones and the team were happy with the success of this year’s event, which attracted over nine thousand attendees, continuing a pattern of growth since the festival’s launch in 2024. “The Sorrento Solstice Festival has always been about creating something the community can be proud of,” Jones says.

Jones’ other regional work includes technical leadership roles with events such as the Nati Frinj Festival in Natimuk, Ripple Fest in Echuca and Rochester, and the Wotjobaluk Nations Festival. This work and his involvement in Winter Solstice have led to his nomination for the Dr Joanne Pyke Young Achievers Award in Tourism.

The success of this year’s event shows that the futures of both Jones and the Solstice Festival are burning bright.