2025 OVERALL WINNERS
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Santos Best Dressed Town
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Santos Best Dressed Private Property
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Santos Best Dressed Commercial or Community Property
Gumeracha
The overall Gold winner of the Santos Best Dressed Town is Gumeracha! Gumeracha became a frog-filled spectacle this year, showcasing the town’s creativity and community spirit. The frog theme holds deep significance to the town of Gumeracha. Businesses, schools, and residents collaborate to create vibrant frog displays, with some frogs climbing buildings or riding bikes. As cyclists pass through, they’re greeted by this colorful celebration, reflecting the town’s unique blend of art, hospitality, and a shared love for nature. It’s an expression of pride and creativity that brings the whole community together.
SILVER: Uraidla
The overall Silver winner of the Santos Best Dressed Town is Uraidla! Bunting lined the streets of Uraidla, adding a festive touch while symbolizing the strong bonds that tie this Adelaide Hills town together. Crafted from a mix of different materials, the bunting transformed the town into a vibrant canvas, with each colorful piece contributing to a sense of unity and pride. The cheerful display not only brightened the streets but also captured the essence of the community: diverse, creative, and tightly connected. It was a visual celebration of what makes Uraidla special, wrapping the whole town in a colorful thread of togetherness.
BRONZE: Willunga
The overall Bronze winner of the Santos Best Dressed Town is Willunga! Willunga was shining bright! The streets were lined with crowns and sunflowers made from recycled materials, creating a burst of color and creativity everywhere. Fresh local flowers added to the vibrant display, giving the town a cheerful, winning atmosphere. It was a fun; eco-friendly celebration that made the whole place feel alive and full of energy!
Best of the Best Dressed Winner
This year we celebrated an incredible 25 years of the competition, and to mark this milestone, we decided to relive the excitement by taking a trip down memory lane from the past 25 years. Voted by the people, Uraidla is crowned the Best of the Best Dressed!
Uraidla: 2023, 2019
Showing their community spirit and pride, Uraidla is the Best of the Best Dressed! The Best Dressed Town competition makes our community pride spill into the streets, fences, paddocks, hedges, and businesses. With different themes from sunflowers to bees to bunting, they all hold significant meaning to the small town. The competition has fostered community connection. It brings our community together; it unites us. We love where we live, we love our place, and being able to welcome everyone to our place is a privilege. It's such a visible project, and what starts small grows in the weeks leading up. Having won two Santos Best Dressed Town awards is massive for our community and has allowed us to champion some really exciting local initiatives. Now, winning the Best of the Best Dressed is absolutely incredible. We're so proud of our win because it exemplifies our deep connection within the community. The winnings have contributed significantly to our community.
2025 Daily Winners
Friday 17
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Aldinga
Aldinga’s private residents welcomed the peloton to the seaside town, showcasing its friendly nature with a sea of bright colors and creative designs. This was an ode to celebrating the start of our wonderful 25th year of the Santos Tour Down Under!
Karl Horn
With a gold crown largely on display, highlighting the incredible 25 years of the Santos Best Dressed Town, Karl was the king of Aldinga, showcasing his creative flair.
Saturday 18
McLaren Vale
Santos Best Dressed Town is McLaren Vale! Bikes and buntings of all shapes and colours lined the main street of McLaren Vale. Each bike was unique with the riders ranging from skeletons to woolly sheep to welcome the peloton to the wonderful vineyards of McLaren Vale!
Hardy's and Fleurieu Arthouse McLaren Vale
Santos Best Dressed Commercial or Community Property is Hardy's and Fleurieu Arthouse McLaren Vale. Showing off their creative flare using bursts of bright oranges and blues, incorporating them into old bike wheels to create eye-catching displays.
Sunday 19
Stirling
The Santos Best Dressed Town is Stirling. The local hillside town was full of color and display as the peloton made its way through. The locals came out into the sunshine to show their support on the last stage of the women's race.
Miss Perez Kitchen and Bar
The Santos Best Dressed Commercial or Community Property is Miss Perez Kitchen and Bar. Orange and blue bikes were among the crowd of local cyclists getting their early coffee fix from Miss Perez.
Barry and Sues Cummins
The Santos Best Dressed private property belongs to Barry and Sue Cummins. A large '25' was the centerpiece of the colorful display at the Cummins' local home, with bikes and bunting covering the hedges.
Tuesday 21
Gumeracha
Santos Best Dressed Town is Gumeracha. Frogs were the main theme in the hillside town of Gumeracha. Riding bikes and climbing the fronts of local businesses, the community came together to create a colourful display of frogs. This has a special meaning to the town when welcoming the riders.
Lobethal Bakery
Santos Best Dressed Commercial or Community Property is Lobethal Bakery, with bikes made out of recycled bottles and materials brightly on display. A cheeky display featured the local baker taking one of the bikes for a spin. Blue and orange koalas helped welcome the cyclists as they stopped in for a sweet treat at a local favorite.
Amy Gannon
Santos Best Dressed private property is Amy Gannon. A big drop bear celebrated the amazing 25 years of the competition. Aussie flags and bunting helped add to the special display, showing their support for the peloton
Wednesday 22
Tanunda
Santos Best Dressed Town is Tanunda. Hosting both the start and finish, the Barossa community came together and celebrated in Tanunda with bunting and good vibes- creating a buzzing atmosphere!
Barossa Visitor Centre
Santos Best Dressed Commercial or Community Property is the Barossa Visitor Centre. Celebrating the incredible 25 years of Santos Tour Down Under, the Barossa Visitor Centre has lots of past memorabilia showcasing its rich history.
Thursday 23
Uraidla
Bunting lined the streets of Uraidla, symbolising the community connection and the thread that ties this Adelaide Hills town together. Bunting made of all different materials created a colourful atmosphere.
Uraidla Institute
On theme with Uraidla’s string of bunting, Uraidla Institute had an abundance of bunting in all sizes along with a big 25 decoration to help welcome the riders as they made their way into the town.
Alicia Camac
Alicia Camac decorated her home with teddies of all kinds riding bikes in all positions. With bright colours and lots of help from her young children, they created a wonderful display.
Friday 24
Victor Harbor
Pelicans riding bikes stole the show down in Victor Harbor. A moving bike display made by local Victor from Victor created the amazing display. Riding alongside the peloton as they made their way into town.
Victor Harbor Visitor Centre
Inside Victor Harbor's Visitor Centre was a display that showcased the wonderful 25 years of the Santos Tour Down Under, with bright bikes and past jerseys proudly on display.
Karl Hornlund
A colourful range of jerseys and displays decorated the home of Karl Hornlund, with a big champagne bottle pouring a glass to celebrate the wonderful 25 years of the Santos Tour Down Under!
Saturday 25
Willunga
Willunga was king of the towns today! Crowns and sunflowers made from recycled materials were seen everywhere in the streets of Willunga. Local fresh flowers added to the bright display of colour that gave the town the winning edge.
Gorgeous Soles
Flowers were the theme of the day with Gorgeous Soles showcasing a wonderful display of blue flowers and bunting outside of their McLaren Vale store.
Ryan Smith & Christine Martin
There was a wonderful display of cycling from the past 25 years of the Santos Tour Down Under at the private property of Ryan Smith and Christine Martin. Crowns and sunflowers were also proudly on display making this property burst with colour and excitement.
Competition Details
- Santos Best Dressed Town
- Santos Best Dressed Private Property
- Santos Best Dressed Commercial or Community Property
- Santos Best Dressed Town - Community involvement, innovation, appearance, sustainable initiatives and the use of Santos Tour Down Under in your display.
- Santos Best Dressed Private, Commercial or Community Property - Innovation, appearance, sustainable initiatives and the use of Santos Tour Down Under in your display.
- Community Involvement: How involved are local residents? Is the whole community contributing to the event? Do visitors and judges feel welcomed? Is energy and excitement on show?
- Appearance: How much effort went into preparing decorations, festivities and activities? Does the nominated site feature plenty of colour and visual impact?
- Innovation: Have any creative measures been used in the planning, preparation and installation of decorations and local activities?
- Santos Tour Down Under and 25-Year Inclusion: How well has the nominee included Santos Tour Down Under event name in their design? How well has the nominee referenced the Santos Tour Down Under’s 25-year milestone? (e.g., showcasing key moments of the last 25 years, past winners, jersey evolutions, iconic riders, memorabilia, and creative milestone-themed displays incorporating the number ‘25’.
- Sustainable Initiatives: How well has the nominee incorporated sustainable practices in their design? What initiatives are in place to minimise environmental impact? Designs that use materials with a high environmental impact (including balloons, single use plastics etc.) will not score points. We love to see household materials such as old bicycle parts, glass jars and bottles, cardboard boxes, old fabric or clothing, tin cans, wooden pallets etc.
The Santos Best Dressed Town Competition will award gold, silver and bronze winners for each category. There will also be a daily winner for each category on every stage.
DAILY WINNERS
Santos Best Dressed Town:
Framed certificate and $500.
Santos Best Dressed Private Property:
Framed certificate and gift pack.
Santos Best Dressed Commercial or Community Property:
Framed certificate and gift pack.
OVERALL WINNERS
Santos Best Dressed Town - Gold:
A signed framed jersey, two metal signs signifying the win, $3000 to be spent on a community improvement project or resources of the nominee’s choice, and the town added to the perpetual winner’s trophy with display rights for 11 months.
Santos Best Dressed Town - Silver:
A signed framed jersey, $1500 to be spent on a community improvement project or resources of the nominee’s choice.
Santos Best Dressed Town - Bronze:
A signed framed jersey, $750 to be spent on a community improvement project or resources of the nominee’s choice.
Santos Best Dressed Private Property:
Framed certificate, gift pack and $1000.
Santos Best Dressed Commercial or Community Property:
Framed certificate, gift pack and $1000.
Entrants for Best of the Best Dressed
This year marks an incredible 25 years of the Santos Best Dressed Town Competition, and we’re celebrating!
For this special milestone, we’re inviting you to relive the excitement by voting for your favourite Best Dressed Town from the past 25 years selection of winners. These towns have showcased unforgettable creativity, spirit, and flair, leaving a lasting impression on the competition’s history.
See the entrants below. Voting has now closed.
Middleton: 2024
Middleton transformed with vibrant blue, orange, and yellow decorations, hosting lively events like live music and a sausage sizzle. Creative touches, including surfboard-shaped bikes and festive bunting, highlighted the community’s unity and enthusiasm for the Santos Tour Down Under.
Uraidla: 2023, 2019
Uraidla’s pride shines through every decorated street, fence, and paddock. The Santos Best Dressed Town competition unites the community, showcasing deep connections and sparking exciting local initiatives. Winning has strengthened community spirit and funded projects that continue to benefit the town.
Woodside: 2022,2020
Woodside’s creative decorations, made with recycled materials, lift community spirits and inspire sustainability. The competition has helped the town recover from recent challenges, including Covid and bushfires, with prize money supporting initiatives like upgrades to the Woody Trails BMX Park.
Lobethal: 2021, 2012
Lobethal’s community comes together across generations to celebrate the Santos Tour Down Under with large-scale decorations and vibrant local participation. The event boosts the town’s economy, showcases its rich culture, and inspires lasting pride and sustainable tourism efforts.
Port Adelaide: 2018
Port Adelaide embraced its history and vibrant community spirit, putting on a colourful display for the Santos Tour Down Under. The town’s participation highlighted its strong sense of identity and pride.
Lyndoch: 2017, 2016
Lyndoch repeatedly rolled out a warm Barossa welcome, blending wine, food, and culture with its signature hospitality. The competition fosters pride and strengthens the region’s deep sense of community.
Williamstown: 2015
Williamstown came alive in 2015 with vibrant decorations and community spirit, transforming the quiet riverside town into a lively hub that showcased its creative flair and strong sense of togetherness.
McLaren Vale: 2014, 1999
McLaren Vale embraced the opportunity to showcase its wineries, vibrant community, and local businesses in 2014 as well as the inaugural year of 1999. The event fosters pride and promotes tourism, encouraging return visits and economic growth.
Prospect: 2013
Prospect’s streets burst with colour and style, as businesses created a unique, multicoloured experience that delighted locals and highlighted the suburb’s lively character in 2013.
Tailem Bend: 2011
Tailem Bend showcased its unique offerings and created a vibrant atmosphere that promoted the town and inspired visitors to return.
Aldinga Bay: 2010, 2002
Aldinga Bay highlighted its stunning coastal charm, uniting the community to showcase hidden gems, seaside cafés and restaurants, fostering tourism and return visitation to a place unlike anywhere else.
One Tree Hill: 2009
One Tree Hill filled its streets with colour and warmth, showcasing its rich history, unique character, and welcoming locals while sharing its story with visitors to the community.
Mannum: 2008, 2007
Mannum’s community spirit shone brightly as the town embraced the event with colourful displays throughout town, attracting visitors to experience its riverfront beauty, charm and friendly atmosphere.
Stirling: 2006
Stirling transformed into a vibrant, bustling Adelaide Hills town during the competition, showcasing its historic buildings, lush greenery, and community pride to a global audience.
Willunga: 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001
Willunga embraced its rich history and community pride year on year, setting a standard for quality involvement and promoting the Historical Township of Willunga and local attractions.
City of Unley & King Willliam Road Progress Association: 2000
City of Unley & King William Road Progress Association transformed their streets with vibrant colour and decorations. Their efforts set a benchmark early on in the competition for creativity and community pride, setting themselves apart.
