General admission tickets are now $90 and have been on sale for just a week.

Co-organiser Matt Clifton is thrilled with ticket sales so far and said it has exceeded his expectations.

“It’s going extremely well...we’re travelling quite nicely,” he said.

Mr Clifton said the majority of festival goers are coming from outside of the Forbes area with people buying tickets from Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Canberra and even Victoria.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the interest coming from visitors and not just locals,” he said.

“It’s a great thing for tourism.”

More than 1,000 camping tickets have also been sold but Mr Clifton said there’s still room for more.

Camping in VAN-CITY costs $12 per person for tents/swags or $40 per vehicle including caravan, campervan, ute or wagon.

Accommodation in Forbes is completely booked out for the whole weekend which will be a great boost to the Forbes economy.

Forbes Shire Council are encouraging local businesses to leverage on the increased patronage in town by extending their opening hours for the weekend.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for the businesses of Forbes,” mayor Ron Penny said.

“With both the Christmas Festival and VANFEST being held on Saturday and the fact that so many people are staying in Forbes, the weekend is going to be excellent for trading.

“Forbes is in a unique position to show thousands of visitors how amazing our town is and with each of these visitors needing to eat, drink and shop while they are in town, it would be great to see the CBD open on Sunday, December 7 to cope with additional patronage.”

The Forbes Business Chamber has recommended that businesses stay open from 9am to 1pm on Saturday, December 6 and from 9am to 12 noon on Sunday, December 7. 

Council is offering additional promotion via its Find it in Forbes Facebook page where they will regularly post a list of businesses that will be open on the Sunday.

Matt Clifton said the VANFEST team are very grateful for all of council’s support.

He said Friday will also be busy in town with many people having booked accommodation for that night.

“There’ll be a Friday night boost before it kicks off and I’m sure there’ll be a bit more trade,” he said.

VANFEST organisers are also calling out for volunteers to help out on the day before the festival, who will be reimbursed with entry to the festival.

“They only need to volunteer for the first part of the day and then they can enjoy the festival,” Mr Clifton said.

“This will involve a lot more people and is part of helping create something for the town.

“”We can’t do everything ourselves and we’re very grateful for the help that we’re getting.”