Maitland Heritage Fest 2023 to be bigger and better

From Friday to Sunday, June 16 to 18, there will be a range of ticketed and free events across Maitland and the Church Street precinct, all planned with celebrating Maitland's rich heritage in mind.

The event kicks off with a heritage dinner at Monte Pio on the Friday night, followed by a heritage piano recital at Sun Street Studios, heritage walks and Bridge House tours on the Saturday.

It all culminates in the free festival event on Sunday at Church Street, featuring historic games, local history, tours, local stalls, crafts, artisans, delicious food and live music.

The festival will be spread across Church Street, with things to see and do at St Marys, Grossmann and Brough Houses, Maitland Country Women's Association Hall and Maitland Guide Hall.

In other news:

Maitland Heritage Fest organiser Janece McDonald said this year's festival will have more to see than ever before.

"We've got a lot more new participants, we've got our usual heritage events, our heritage games, we've got the town crier," Dr McDonald said.

"We've got more stalls because we've been concentrating on trying to get the local small community stalls involved.

"This year we have a blacksmith, and we've also got a silhouette artist so everyone can have a free silhouette made courtesy of Burton Automotive, that will be in the CWA Hall."

The festival will be full of local entertainment too, with folk singers, musicians, Maitland City Brass Band, Maitland City Choir and City of Maitland Pipes of Drums.

Dr McDonald said it's important to foster a love of our city for the future generations, and heritage is a big part of Maitland.

"Maitland has a really long, long history of heritage going back from the Indigenous people right through to when the cedar getters first came," she said.

"And of course you can see we went through different stages of growth, you can see these beautiful buildings that attest to how prosperous Maitland was at one stage.

"People love coming to see the old buildings, we see so many people just wandering up the street looking at the buildings."

For tickets to the paid events and more information, visit maitlandheritagefest.com.au.