1996 - The idea for a gay and lesbian event held in Daylesford over the Labour Day long weekend in March is first proposed at a meeting of the Springs Connections committee.

1997 - With less that two months to prepare, a small but enthusiastic team organises the first ever ChillOut festival. Taking place over one day at The Olde Winery in Musk Vale, the first event attracts around 100 people and, despite the freezing weather, is a great success.

1998 - ChillOut moves to Victoria Park, Daylesford. The Daylesford Council agrees to let the organisers use the park free of charge and include the event under the council’s existing public liability and indemnity insurance. Joy FM broadcast live from ChillOut for the first time this year, and organisers notice a bigger Melbourne presence than the previous year. Springs Connection tshirts are provided for volunteers to clearly identify them amongst the colourful crowd.

1999 - The festival is held over two days for the first time. A dance party is organised at the Palais and a Carnival Day takes place on Sunday.

2000 - A cow is adopted as the motif for the festival, and an illustration of a cow in high heels appears for the first time this year.

2001 - The ChillOut committee commissions the construction of a costumed cow’s head to take and wear to Pride March. The street parade is introduced, taking place on the morning of the Carnival Day, Sunday. This first year the parade is so small it tours Vincent Street several times. A number of different events were added and the festival extends across the four days of the Labour Day weekend for the first time this year. As well as the parade, these events include; a race day in nearby Kyneton, a golf tournament, bushwalking and drag shows.

2002 - The Dance Party and Street Parade events get their own themes, separate to that of the general festival. ‘Psychedelic’ is the first theme. This year, ChillOut festival receives the Community Event: Pride Award.

2003 - ChillOut Daylesford becomes an incorporated not-for-profit organisation. From this year onwards, the Springs Connections reference was dropped and ChillOut becomes the logo on the shirts.

2004 - ChillOut festival records close to 22,000 attendees, generating just over $5 million in revenue for the local community.

2005 - The theme this year is Carry on Camping. The festival had performances from BABBA, Adam Elliot and Paul Capsis and was another well attended festival.

2006 - ChillOut festival celebrates 10 years of operation. This celebratory year includes a opening party Friday night, a range of activities Saturday including a golf tournament, horse riding and bushwalking; a cabaret party Saturday night; Parade and Carnival Day Sunday, Dance Party Sunday night and a recovery brunch on Monday.

2007 - After the success of the 10th ChillOut the committee are exhausted and some members step away. Preparations for the 2007 ChillOut festival start late in the year with a committee that is not at full capacity. When the call for volunteers fails to attract enough people, the committee realises they were not going to be able to make it happened and with heavy hearts, ChillOut 2007 is cancelled. As well as disappointing many fans of the festival, the economic loss to the Daylesford Hepburn region is significant.

2008 - 2008’s theme was “Queer as Country Folk” and that year ChillOut’s special guest was Adam Sutton the gay cowboy Heath Ledger based his Brokeback Mountain character on. It saw the introduction of the inaugural Bush Dance at the Palais in Hepburn.

2009 - Once again the festival is threatened but this time from bushfires. However, the committee cautiously carries on and the festival goes ahead raising $25,000 for the Worthy Cause, donating funds to the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, Hepburn Wildlife Shelter and the local CFA.

2010 - This is the first year the festival does not need to hire generators to power stalls and the stage, because the Hepburn Shire commissions the installation of power poles and shade structures at Victoria Park.

2011 - The 2011 theme was “Bollywood in the Bush. This year the Bush Dance moved to the Daylesford Town Hall. The program was many and varied as well as the usual ChillOut run events there was a Race Day at Kyneton Racecourse, twilight cinema, Rainbow music trivia night, to name a few.

2012 - This was the first year ChillOut set up its own offices in Daylesford instead of meeting around committee members’ kitchen tables. The Parade was themed “Pirates: Recapturing the Pearls” and the Dance Party was themed “Burlesque”. ChillOut was also instrumental in securing support for a motion on marriage equality by Hepburn Shire Council.

2013 - Carnival Day sees an impressive 7,500 attendees, up by more than 2,000 from the previous year. The ‘Back to the Future’ themed Parade is a highlight of the day.

2014 - At ChillOut this year, the iconic Dolly Diamond celebrated her tenth year as the Carnival Day host. The ChillOut and Daylesford community is saddened to lose a long time volunteer and supporter of ChillOut, Roz Moynihan. The Worthy Cause is renamed the Roz Moynihan Worthy Cause in her honour.

2015 - During a campaign which attracts over 20,000 votes, Daylesford is the winner of the ANZ ‘The only GAYTM in the Village’ competition. The GAYTM is installed just prior to ChillOut festival 2015 and remains in Daylesford for two weeks. The cover of the 2015 program was a cow made from composite of over 1,200 pictures taken from previous ChillOut Festivals

2016 - ChillOut contracts a professional Festival Director who helps to deliver an action packed program.

2017 - ChillOut festival celebrates its 20 birthday this year with an exhibition showcasing the past 20 years of the festival. The Victorian State Government announces a grant of $150,000 over three years to support the ongoing success of the festival.

2018 - For its 21st birthday ChillOut festival celebrates Australia recognising marriage equality by hosting one lucky couple’s marriage on the main stage during the festival. The Kids Bush Dance is introduced as ChillOut event and is a great success.

2019 - Chillout creates Raising Rainbows initiative and uses the Festival Art auction to raise funds. This allows the Association to install flagpoles, dedicated for flying of the Rainbow Flag, into Schools and Community organisations.

From the very beginning of the ChillOut festival, finding a way to give back to the local community was a top priority. Foundation ChillOut committee member Margaret remembers that the organisers ‘were always mindful of who we were and what we were and that we did not want to alienate the community. So it was topmost on the agenda that we gave back and we did so publicly’.

Despite the activity of Springs Connections and the increasing number of active gay men and lesbian women in the Daylesford community in the late 1990s, there was still a fair amount of homophobia within the community. Ally Paul remembers that homophobia was ‘fairly rife in Daylesford at that time’.

The rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBTIQA+ pride, is a common sight in Daylesford today, with shop owners and many locals proudly displaying their support of the LGBTI community. However, this was not always the case.

From the very beginning, it was important to the organisers of ChillOut that the festival embrace and showcase its country origins. ‘We were country’, inaugural ChillOut chair Leanne Spain comments, ‘we wanted to identify ourselves with a country event’.

The lighting up of the Daylesford Town Hall in the colours of the rainbow is a regular occurance during ChillOut.

ChillOut Archives