[1] The festival is held in June each year at the Araluen Cultural Precinct in Alice Springs.
[9] The Beanie Festival was started in 1997, on a much smaller scale, with a 'beanie party' designed to create a unique social-enterprise and it was the idea of Adi Dunlop.
The festival was inspired by the cold desert winters and existing popularity of beanies with Central Australian Aboriginal people who were already creating colourful and individual handmade creations.
[10] Beanies were also picked as a perfect social-enterprise as they are ideal for the tourist market, being light and inexpensive.
[10] The 2020 festival, set for June, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.