What we do
Matt Yates started putting on circus shows around Margaret River in 1990, and Lunar Circus has been doing it as a company since 1998. We work from our own site at Karridale, about three hours south of Perth and half an hour south of Margaret River, and very little of what we do happens indoors. There are three sides to it: the festival we produce every January, the training project that runs in the fortnight before it, and the fleet of big tops we hire out across the state — sometimes with the show to go inside them.
Karnidale, the Western Australian Circus Festival
Karnidale is the Southern Hemisphere’s largest festival dedicated to circus. Around 3,000 people make the drive down for it each year, and the 2027 edition runs across Friday 15 and Saturday 16 January.
Over two days and two nights you’ll find international and Australian circus artists, cabaret, comedy, live bands, workshops, market stalls and kids’ shows. New for 2027 is The Edith, a 22-metre spiegeltent seating around 300, joining the Royale, the Lunar Sensation and the open-air Amphitheatre Stage. Two bars pour Margaret River Beer Co. beer and Leeuwin wines, and you can camp on site and make a weekend of it. Tickets go on sale on 1 September 2026.
The International Circus Training Project
For two weeks before the festival, the site turns into a circus school. Week one runs Monday 4 to Friday 8 January 2027 and week two Sunday 10 to Thursday 14 January, finishing just as the festival weekend begins.
There are more than 25 classes running every hour, across every circus discipline and every skill level, taught by visiting tutors from around the world. It’s open to anyone — people who have never hung off anything in their lives train alongside working professionals. The full programme is $1,950, shorter options start from $630, and Circus Fun for kids is $150. Registrations are open now.
Big top and circus tent hire
We own and operate seven big tops, and we hire them out across Perth, Western Australia and the Northern Territory for weddings, corporate events, festivals, product launches and parties. They seat anywhere from 50 to 1,114 guests, from the intimate Pink Flamingo up to the Lunar Royale, so there is usually one that fits the shape of the event rather than the other way round.
Delivery, installation and pack-down by our own crew are included in every hire. Seating, staging, audio, lighting and draping are available as add-ons, so you only pay for what your event actually needs. A big top also gives you something a marquee can’t: height, rigging points for aerial performance, and a blackout lining that turns a summer afternoon into night. And we can curate the acts to go inside it.
Get in touch
Whether you want a ticket, a fortnight of training or a tent in a paddock somewhere, we’re easy to reach. Call +61 439 999 793 or send us a message.