The Chills Hoist Forest Zone at Harvest Festival (Parramatta 2011-12)

Between 2011–2012, Sunny Bins brought something uniquely mobile and green to the Harvest Festival in Parramatta — introducing the “Chills Hoist Forest” (CHF) zone, a solar-powered installation built around wheelie-bin sound systems and a central “jam hut” radio-style hub. The festival itself, held in Parramatta Park, was the Sydney leg of Harvest’s nationwide run. Concrete Playground+3Wikipedia+3bawley.blogspot.com+3

What the zone consisted of:

• Several wheelie-bin sound systems powered by solar, receiving their signal from a central wireless receiver hub (the “jam hut”).
• Four modified Hills Hoists used as shade / hanging frames, draped with screen-printed and stenciled fabric panels created via a workshop format run by Sunny Bins member and Vectorpunk artist Peter Strong.
• A flexible space that could become a dance zone, workshop area, gallery, or chill-out garden, complete with vegetarian BBQs and mobile suburban-garden aesthetics.
• The hoists were elevated so that the fabric foliage and LED-driven solar light boxes could hang high, creating a “forest canopy” in miniature. The four hoists linked together created a footprint of roughly twelve to fourteen square metres, bordered by white picket fences, with riser stands to elevate the bin sound systems for broader coverage.

The zone reflected Sunny Bins’ ethos of DIY sound, solar-power, community engagement and surprise in festival contexts. By integrating the iconic Australian yard items (wheelie bin, Hills Hoist, picket fence) with mobile sound and workshop culture, the CHF created an immersive and playful experience. At a festival like Harvest—which was described as “a melodious blend of eclectic and eccentric” at Parramatta Park in 2012. Concrete Playground—this zone offered something off-beat, interactive and distinctly local.

A bit of context:

• Harvest Festival’s Sydney event in 2011 and 2012 each drew sizeable crowds in Parramatta Park and included international headliners. bawley.blogspot.com+2Justine McNamara+2
• By anchoring a creative zone within that larger festival, Sunny Bins was able to showcase how mobile sound systems and community-driven workshop formats could slot into major events, not just grassroots gigs.

The Monster Cantina Truck cameo:
Early in the CHF run, Sunny Bins briefly operated the “Monster Cantina Truck” as part of the setup, though the truck suffered mechanical breakdown. Even so, the moment marked the experimental and mobile spirit of the project.