Get ready to experience the heart of SideBurn 2025! This year’s Temple and Effigy bring powerful themes of reflection, renewal, and celebration.
Sacred Grove: A Temple of Reflection, Renewal, and Connection by Sky Ece Ulusoy
The Sacred Grove is a collection of “trees,” inside of which a temple clearing has been created to host mourning, tribute, and connection. This space draws inspiration from ancient sacred groves, which were once common across cultures as places of healing.
It symbolizes the cyclical nature of life—death, rebirth, and growth. Through natural materials and interactive elements, the temple invites participants to slow down, reflect, and engage in a shared experience of communal reverence. It serves as a metaphor for personal transformation, renewal, and our collective responsibility to protect the Earth.
The above description and photo comes directly from the artist.
Big Top: A Towering Effigy of Light, Color, and Celebration by Karl Demel & Rich Martin
Embrace joy and freedom of self-expression through a massive interactive structure. Dare to climb Big Top’s guts and peer above the festival landscape. Bands of twisting colour and strings of flags bath Big Top in shimmering lights. The core is open from the earth to the sky by day, and lit in a rainbow kaleidoscope by night.
The silhouette will be seen from all corners of sideburn and perhaps the whole county when we light it up and burn it down on Saturday night. Big Top may only be in existence for 3 days but he will live on forever in our festival hearts. So, step right up and be amazed.
The above description and photo comes directly from the artists.
Want to be part of our Temple or Effigy teams? Join us—volunteers needed!
