Firstival asks one simple question: when was the last time you did something for the first time? From circus tricks and cocktails, to kimchi and astrology charts, LibrariesSA are inviting people to step outside their comfort zone this July with more than 300 events.
Ever wanted to learn to juggle, make authentic handmade dumplings, or try puppy yoga? These are just a few of hundreds of new activities you can try and experience at a participating South Australian library this July.
“Firstival makes a point of asking people, ‘When was the last time you did something for the first time?’“ says Megan Berghuis, Director of the State Library of South Australia.
Now in its fourth year, Firstival is run by LibrariesSA and delivers more than 300 events throughout July across the state’s network of 130 participating public libraries.
Something for everyone
So what can you try? Everything from learning how to make your own low-tox skincare and sourdough starters, to sound baths, AI workshops and tarot – and most cost nothing or close to it.
“Life gets boring if we’re always doing the same things,” Megan says, so the month leans into the unexpected and invites people to “give something new a crack”.
Firstival caters to every taste, no matter how niche – there’s a first to try for every kind of South Australian.
12 firsts worth booking
With more than 300 events, where do you start? Here are a few of our top picks.
- Learn to fold your first Chinese dumpling and eat it three ways (Stirling)
- Sip a ‘Juggle Juice’ cocktail and learn your first circus trick (Mount Barker)
- Attempt your first downward dog on a yoga mat surrounded by puppies (Hilton)
- Stitch your first snarky cross-stitch (Prospect)
- Meet your cosmic self during your first astrology chart reading (Yankalilla)
- Make your first batch of kimchi and sauerkraut (Victor Harbor)
- Float through your first sound bath (Balaklava)
- Learn your first line dance at beginners’ boot scooting (Strathalbyn)
- Plant your first succulent over a glass of wine (Campbelltown)
- Pull off your first heist (Mount Gambier)
- Make your first beaded jewellery set (Campbelltown)
- Create your first low tox skincare (Victor Harbor)
School holidays, sorted
Firstival coincides with the school holidays, and that means it’s timed perfectly for parents needing a break from entertaining kids at home. More than 110 events have been especially designed for children and families as part of the program – many of them free.
They can learn to build a homemade Book Week costume, roll up to a bedtime story time in their PJs, take their first yoga class, or make and fill their own mini piñata. There are sessions where kids meet live snakes, possums and reptiles up close, assemble a telescope and stargaze to Kaurna night-sky stories, or direct and animate their own LEGO stop-motion movie. The three-to-eight crowd even gets its own mini science fair at Lyndoch Library.
More than a month
But Firstival isn’t just about learning new skills, enjoying fun new experiences and maybe making a few new friends.
It’s also about getting you back into SA’s public libraries so you can remember what’s there the other eleven months of the year.
And Megan says it’s working: since Firstival began in 2023, more than 20,000 South Australians have signed up for a free LibrariesSA One Card during the month-long festival, almost 7000 of them in July 2025 alone.
She says that what they come back to is a proper community hub. The books are as good as ever, but they’re only part of what makes SA’s libraries such great and welcoming spaces.
Many SA libraries run regular book clubs and writers’ groups; some have cosplay nights, laughter clubs, 3D printers and maker rooms; a few lend a “Library of Things,” so you can borrow a chocolate fountain or a camping kit instead of buying one.
There’s free wi-fi, computers and bookable meeting rooms too – and with your One Card you can order any title from any of the 130-plus libraries to your local branch, plus free ebooks and audiobooks through apps like Libby and BorrowBox. If you’re looking to upskill, LinkedIn Learning is also free with your One Card.
Megan calls the Libraries SA One Card system “the envy of the nation,” with more than three million items available through just the one card.
“Once they are there, South Australians rediscover that libraries are not only about borrowing books, but about connection, creativity, support and shared discovery,” Megan says.
That matters more when money’s tight and cost of living pressures are rising.
“In a time when many spaces come with a price tag or a sense that you must justify your presence, libraries remain places where people can belong, learn, reflect, and participate in community life.”
Dark academia, made real
Not every library is a local branch. The State Library, on North Terrace, is for all South Australians – the keeper of our state’s stories. Megan says it’s a destination that should be at the top of everyone’s “must see” lists when they visit the CBD.
Last year the world caught on to what locals have long known. In the 2025 1000 Libraries Awards, voted on by more than 200,000 people, its Mortlock Chamber was named the second most beautiful library on the planet, behind only Trinity College Dublin.
Opened in 1884, it’s a dark-academia daydream – three tiers of cast-iron balconies under a soaring glass roof, plus a basement that was once a taxidermist’s workshop and still holds tens of thousands of books. It reopened in October 2025 after a heritage refurbishment, and it’s free to walk into, with free guided tours most weekdays.
Megan says the State Library, as the state’s premier public research and reference library, “remains one of the great cultural experiences on North Terrace”, giving locals “the chance to encounter South Australia’s stories in rich and unexpected ways”. There are plenty of major exhibitions and public programs to enjoy, plus a new Little Library for children opening in August – “a place of wonder, imagination and joy”.
But whatever SA library you visit this July, she hopes you leave with something bigger than a tray of dumplings or a new party trick.
“I hope South Australians discover that the library belongs to them. Above all, I hope they leave with a renewed sense that libraries are for everyone, and that there is always something more waiting to be discovered.”
Firstival runs July 1-31. Find the full program and your nearest participating library at firstival.com.au.
