As of 2013[update], the small town has a variety of arts and craft shops, restaurants and cafes, a hotel, club, post office, supermarket and other businesses, including an ambulance station, general practitioner and a chemist.

[3] The first inhabitants of Kangaroo Valley were the Australian Aboriginal Wodi-Wodi people, who had reportedly occupied the land for around 20,000 years before the European settlement of Australia in 1788.

[4] The first recorded European sighting of the valley was in April 1812, when surveyor-explorer George Evans passed through the area as he travelled north from his exploration of Jervis Bay.

The felling and exporting of Australian Red Cedar (Toona ciliata) trees quickly became the main industry in Kangaroo Valley.

By the 1870s, activity had begun to concentrate in the area that is now the village, as other centres in Kangaroo Valley, such as Trendally, died with the dairy industry in the region.

In 2009, the festival celebrated the 80th birthday of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe with three concerts devoted to his music.

In addition to a local public primary school, The Scots College 200 acres (0.81 km2) Glengarry outdoor education campus for year-nine students is located in Kangaroo Valley, with five 20-bed dormitories, six classrooms, a gymnasium and a theatrette.

The Scots College participates in several community events including the traffic stopping ANZAC Day March and Ceremony and the A&H Society Annual Show in February.