When Patty Bartholomew created a "Memories of Lake Cargelligo 2672" Facebook page, she never imagined it would be the impetus for this year's Festival of the Lake celebration, which takes place in Lake Cargelligo over the long weekend in October.

Born and bred in the Lake Cargelligo area, Ms Bartholomew created the page in February 2022 and it now has over 3800 followers.

"It just went gangbusters," she said. "I created it and within a few weeks had hundreds of followers. A lot of former locals mentioned they would love to come back to the district and so a group of us ended up having a meeting and then formed a committee.

We have been madly fund-raising for the Festival ever since."

Now secretary of the Festival of the Lakes 2023 committee, Ms Bartholomew is an enthusiastic promoter of the town and its people.

"Like many places, Lake Cargelligo has had a tough few years with floods, droughts and Covid. But it is a beautiful area with amazing people and this is all about celebrating what we have in the present moment. It's about the community we are in 2023."

Ms Bartholomew said there has been similar celebrations in district in the past.

"In the fifties and sixties the Festival of the Lakes was held on Australia Day and became too large for the facilities that could be provided. There was a couple of other events in the late eighties but this is the first for some time and we are all about modernising it to suit our multicultural community. The committee is very mindful of our Aboriginal community as well as our residents who have come from overseas. The event will be inclusive of everyone in our beautiful community."

The Festival of the Lakes 1963 brought marching bands to the streets (Image Facebook)

But while the idea of the event was well supported, fundraising has taken some time and effort for the committee. Consequently, they were delighted to be recently awarded $10000 through a grant from the Foundation Rural Regional Renewal (FRRR) and

Ms Bartholomew said this has made a massive difference to their plans.

"The grant money is a lifesaver," she said. "It means we can have extra events such as live music. We have some ex-local musicians returning as well as current residents available to entertain. The hidden costs, like security are also very expensive as it's not something we can source locally."

The weekend is jam-packed, starting with a traditional smoking ceremony and then a parade to Liberty Park where there will be market stalls, children's events, live music and a headphone disco. This will be followed by an old-fashioned sports day involving the classic events such as the egg and spoon race and the three-legged race.

"The whole community is getting involved," Ms Bartholomew said. "The Men's Shed have even created a putt-putt gold course."

Community groups will hold events on the Sunday with an art exhibition available for viewing at the local Lands Council.

"We look forward to welcoming former residents back into town to celebrate with the great community that live here now," Ms Bartholomew said.

Lake Cargelligo is ready to welcome returning residents to the community for a jam-packed "Festival of the Lakes" event in October.