Ekka, $1 Ramen and Night Feast’s Return: 16 Essential Events on This Month in Brisbane

August is a jam-packed month with events like Night Feast, Ekka and the Brisbane Fashion Festival. Here are the 16 best things to do in Queensland this month – and all the food news you need to know.

Jump to:

• Festivals and events

• Theatre

• Art

• Food news and new openings

Festivals and events in August 2026

Check out our 2026 festival and events wrap – or keep reading to find out about this month’s best.

• Ekka, August 8 to 16: One of the largest events in the state, the Ekka (aka the Royal Queensland Show) draws more than 400,000 visitors to the Brisbane Showgrounds each year. Now in its 150th year, the Ekka has maintained its agricultural show roots, with competitions for dairy cows, horseriding and woodchopping, along with sheepdog trials and a giant pumpkin contest. There’s also plenty of live music and a range of food trucks – be sure to grab the traditional Ekka snacks: a dagwood dog and a strawberry sundae. If you’ve got kids in tow, head to Sideshow Alley for the rides and the Showbag Pavilion to introduce them to the concept of decision paralysis. When it gets dark, make your way to the main arena for the fireworks display. Tickets are on sale now.

• $1 ramen at Motto Motto, August 15: Motto Motto is opening a new store at the Joyner Central Shopping Centre on August 15. To celebrate, the first 400 guests will score a $1 classic tonkotsu ramen.

• Fountainhead Winehouse takeover at Bar Miette, August 16: From 2pm on Sunday August 16, Daniel Wilson and the team from Fountainhead Winehouse are collaborating with Bar Miette. There will be a collection of wines, seasonal cocktails and wine bar snacks. Bookings are encouraged.

• Night Feast, until August 23: Since its first edition in 2023, Night Feast has established itself as one of the major culinary events in Brisbane. It’s a cross between a food festival and a night market, which sees a string of food stalls set up in the Powerhouse forecourt. These aren’t your typical market food stands, though – they’re pop-ups by some of the city’s most beloved restaurants, serving a mix of favourite dishes and exclusive menu items. This year, stalls will come from Night Feast newbies like Norté and Ruby, My Dear, as well as returning favourites like Donna Chang, Gelato Messina and Hoy Pinoy.

• Brisbane Fashion Festival, August 24 to 28: Brisbane Fashion Festival is back for its 21st year. The program includes a look into Queensland Ballet’s costume department, and runways by Carla Zampatti and emerging fashion designers. The full program is available online.   

• Six Weeks, Six Noodles at Supernormal Brisbane, until September 6: Supernormal’s noodle series is here to heat up winter. Each week until Sunday September 6, the riverside restaurant will offer a new noodle dish, alongside the regular menu. The changing specials include steamed rice noodles with Corner Inlet calamari, and knife-cut wheat noodles with spiced cumin lamb and Baoning cu (Chinese black vinegar). Each dish uses a different kind of noodle and is designed to be shared between two people. There’s also a special drink designed to go with each specific item, but all six drinks – including a cola saké – are available for the duration of the noodle series. 

• Fried Chicken Tuesdays at Supernormal: Winter calls for comfort food. Enter Supernormal’s Korean fried chicken, which is served crisp and golden with house ferments and sauces, including green chilli ranch and kombu hot sauce.

• +81 Sushi Kappo, one of Broadsheet’s best new openings of the year so far, has just introduced a lunch service. You can now experience the venue’s omakase menu at lunch on Thursday and Friday.

• Wednesday Steak Nights at Marlowe: The team at Marlowe has introduced a new midweek special. Each Wednesday, the menu now features a 220-gram Riverine sirloin with skin-on fries for $38. There’s the option to include a paired wine or beer with your steak for $49 or, if you’re going all out for hump day, you can turn the whole thing into a surf’n’turf. Reservations are available online.

Theatre in August 2026

Brisbane’s 2026 theatre calendar is packed with musicals, adaptations and Australian premieres. Here’s what to catch this month.

• Second Coming: If our time on Earth is running out, where next? This La Boite production boards us on an enterprising mission to start over again on Mars, with a cargo of two of every kind of creature. Sound familiar? The spaceship is named Ark Mark II, and the year is 2065. Geneticist Evie and her crew are humanity’s last hope, but their mission is funded by a corporate superpower. What could possibly go wrong? Written by Kathryn Marquet and director Ian Lawson, the dark but funny play looks at who we’re entrusting to make decisions and asks, if we are going to save the world, shouldn’t we make it better?

Second Coming runs from August 6 to 22 at Roundhouse Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

• Do Not Go Gentle: Melbourne playwright Patricia Cornelius looks at the dignity and defiance of aging in her 2010 play about aged care residents who imagine themselves in an icy, barren landscape, as if they are South Pole explorers. Not just any explorers, but the 1911 expedition led by British Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who never returned from the trip. In the two-hour play, the harsh landscape becomes a metaphor for aging bodies and minds, all desperately trying to keep going in as spirited a way as they can.

Do Not Go Gentle runs from August 11 to 30 at Bille Brown Theatre. Tickets are on sale now.

• Heathers The Musical: Heathers walked so that Clueless and Mean Girls could run. If you haven’t seen the 1988 film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, the dark comedy satirises teen movies of the time. The off-Broadway version, which debuted in 2014, has been touring for more than a decade with minor tweaks. It has a pop-rock score by screenwriter Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, who was behind the music of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Veronica Sawyer is played by newcomer Emma Caporaso, and New Zealand-born Calista Nelmes – who was a finalist on The Voice – is queen bee Heather Chandler.

Heathers The Musical runs until August 9 at Hota, Gold Coast. Tickets are on sale now.

Art exhibitions in August 2026

Art lovers must be exhausted – this year is packed with exhibitions. Here are four you can see this month.

• The Red Dress, Museum of Brisbane: The Red Dress is the product of 14 years of collaboration. From 2009 to 2023, the dress travelled the world to be embroidered by 367 women, 11 men and two non-binary artists from 51 countries. It holds the world record for the largest collaborative embroidery project. The 6.8-kilogram dress has been exhibited in major galleries across the globe. Until September 13. Free.

• Stories You Wear: Magpie Goose, Museum of Brisbane: Aboriginal-owned and -led fashion and social enterprise Magpie Goose has teamed up with the Museum of Brisbane to celebrate its ongoing collaborations with First Nations artists and designers. Directed by co-owners Amanda Hayman (Wakka Wakka and Kalkadoon) and Troy Casey (Kamilaroi), this exhibition sees clothing used as a canvas for storytelling and a vehicle for conversations. There’s a particular focus on works from the South East Queensland communities of Jinibara and Quandamooka, including senior artists Sonja Carmichael and Belinda Close. Visit and explore the creativity, innovation and cultural expression that goes into each piece of the Magpie Goose collection. Until January 31, 2027. Free.

• This Moment: Highlights from the White Rabbit Collection of Chinese Contemporary Art, Hota: White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney showcases the private collection of philanthropist Judith Neilson, whose focus is experimental and political art from 21st-century China. Neilson’s collection rarely travels beyond Sydney – until now. In a Queensland exclusive, visitors to Hota will get to see 40 artworks from White Rabbit, including some by ceramicist Geng Xue, multimedia artist Xu Zhen, and video and installation artist Zhang Peili. Expect mind-bending pieces such as a 3D-printed Noah’s Ark, twisted and appearing to melt to the ground; neon and LED sculptures; and a haunting chorus of wooden chairs with mechanical arms. Until October 18. Free.

• Archie Moore kith and kin, QAGOMA: Awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2024, Archie Moore’s kith and kin is a powerful and contemplative work that charts the artist’s family tree over 65,000 years. The hand-drawn chart is written in chalk on blackboard, and includes animals, plants and waterways – proving not only that Aboriginal people have the oldest continuous living culture, but also that all living things are connected. A reflective pool sits in the middle as a memorial to First Nations people who died during incarceration. There are also floating pages of coronial inquests detailing Indigenous deaths in custody. It’s a stark reminder of the ongoing over-representation of First Nations people in Australia’s criminal justice system. This exhibition marks the first time kith and kin has been shown anywhere outside of Venice. Until October 18. Free.

Food news and new openings

What we’ve covered recently:

• Sorai brings homestyle Burmese to Brisbane.

• Sancho in Stafford showcases the flavours of New Mexico.

You might have missed:

• The 10 best roasts in Brisbane to cap off your Sunday.

• Chefs share their takes on the best special-occasion spots in Queensland.

Reporting by Alice Jeffrey, Emma Joyce and Kit Kriewaldt.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 12, 2026. It is updated every month with new events and inclusions. The most recent update was August 5, 2026