Custom vans, roaring engines, shag pile interiors and old-school imagination are set to take over Tamworth this week as it prepares to celebrate Australia’s thriving vanning culture from May 14 to 17 at the 2026 VANFEST Expo.
The multi-day event will culminate with a massive indoor show at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre on Sunday, May 17, where organisers are aiming to host the biggest indoor van show Australia has ever seen.
More than 100 vans are expected to be displayed indoors, alongside custom bikes, street machines, merchandise, food vendors and live light and sound displays.
Event manager Ashleigh Bennett said VANFEST was designed to celebrate the spirit of traditional Australian vanning culture while welcoming a new generation into the scene.
“VANFEST’s aim is to encourage, promote and celebrate Vanning as it was back in the day,” Bennett said.
“There’s a real sense of mateship amongst those that come along and everyone that walks through that door will feel welcome.”
“VANFEST is for all types of vans. You won’t walk into TRECC on Sunday and just see six-figure builds. You’ll be walking around seeing mild to wild customs. You’ll see originals that haven’t been changed. You’ll see mint vans that have been lovingly restored.”
The event is being hosted by Custom Vans Australia, which Bennett launched in 2022 after seeing demand for a New South Wales-based event focused on traditional show vans and fair competition judging.
“In it’s prime, Vanning in Australia was about imagination and customisation,” Bennett said.
“It was about working on your van, meeting up with your mates, then going home and changing something else to try and out do them the following week.”
“Vanners just built cool stuff. They dared to be different and they were either loved or hated for it and that is still very much the case today.”
Bennett said her own passion for the van scene grew after becoming involved in rebuilding vans with her husband, learning everything from sanding and fabrication through to paint and mechanical work.
“There were times where my fingertips were bleeding because they were red raw from sanding,” she said.
“I even woke up one night with welders flash and had no idea what was going on. I thought I was blind, much to my husband’s amusement.”
That passion eventually led to the creation of the NSW State Van Titles, with Bennett determined to bring back the creativity and camaraderie she admired in Australia’s classic van culture.
A major feature of VANFEST is its nostalgic “Grand Champion” award, which rewards not only the quality of a van build but also the overall vanning experience.
“It’s to give everyone a shot at a title, not just the big dollar builds,” Bennett said.
Contenders for the award must show and drive their vans, compete in the light and sound displays and even dress to match their van’s theme.
This year’s event will feature standout builds including Jaffa, La Catrina and The Player, alongside blown vans, twin-turbo customs, murals, retro restorations and factory-style classics.
Bennett said securing TRECC for this year’s event marked a major milestone for VANFEST.
“In four short years to have gone from a small-town riverside caravan park to an elite, all indoor show makes me extremely proud of what I have achieved,” she said.
“The fact that I have had such a great response to the event, with over 50 new vans entering that have never been before, it has been truly humbling.”
Despite the scale of the event, Bennett said the welcoming nature of the vanning community remained its biggest strength.
“For the most part, the Vanning community has little to no egos, which is rare in amongst the car world,” she said.
“It would be no surprise to anyone there that a guy with the tidiest, most decorated and highest-end build would also be the same guy to lay down on the wet ground under someone else’s van and help them fix it.”
For those considering attending for the first time, Bennett had a simple message.
“Don’t think about it, just do it,” she said.
“Those coming to watch – well, I guarantee you haven’t seen anything like it, at least this side of the 90’s, and you’ll be talking about it for years to come.”
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