What's on

Lorne's calendar is concentrated: a very busy fortnight either side of New Year, a long quiet stretch through winter, and a handful of fixtures that people plan their year around. The dates below are the ones worth booking accommodation for, because the town fills for all of them.

The Lorne calendar

Powercor Mountain to Surf — Friday 8 January 2027

An 8km run or walk that starts in the middle of town on the Great Ocean Road, climbs straight up into the Otway ranges, drops onto the St George River track and comes back along the coast to finish at the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club. Around 2,000 runners. Entries open Monday 2 November 2026.

Powercor Lorne Pier to Pub — Saturday 9 January 2027

The big one, and the reason Lorne is booked out in early January. A 1.2km ocean swim from the Lorne Pier to the Surf Life Saving Club, finishing metres from the pub that gives it its name. More than 5,000 swimmers and around 25,000 spectators, run entirely by Lorne Surf Life Saving Club volunteers, and one of the largest ocean swims in the world. Entries open Monday 2 November 2026 and the popular waves go quickly.

Lorne Sculpture Biennale — March 2027

A free open-air sculpture exhibition staged along the Lorne foreshore every second March, with Australian and international artists. The 2025 edition has been and gone; Surf Coast Shire has confirmed funding for the next one in 2027, but exact dates had not been announced as at August 2026.

What is no longer on

If you are searching for the Falls Music and Arts Festival, it no longer runs at Lorne. The festival began near Lorne in 1993 and became the town's best-known event, but the last Falls held at the Lorne site was in 2018. The organisers put the festival on hiatus in 2023, it did not return in 2024 or 2025, and the farm at Deans Marsh Road that hosted it was sold in April 2025. There is no Falls Festival at Lorne over the coming New Year, and no announcement of one returning.

Running something in Lorne, or spotted a date here that is wrong? Email info@lorne.com.au and we will get it listed or corrected.