An inaugural winter festival is coming to Forbes this month and organisers hope it will help boost not only tourism but the spirits of drought affected farmers within the region.
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The Frost and Fire event will be held at the Lake Forbes Ski Dam on June 22 and promises plenty of fire, hearty food, warming beverages and great entertainment.
The festival's launch was held Tuesday, June 4 at on the Lake at Lions Park with Councillors and stakeholders in attendance.
Forbes Shire Council Drought coordinator, Sally Downie said the idea of the festival was to celebrate the natural beauty of the town and encourage local and visitor tourism.
Ms Downie attended the launch and said it was a great atmosphere which should roll into the actual event.
"At this stage I think it will be a very successful event," she said.
"There's no entry fee so it becomes very accessible, the only thing people have to pay for is there food and drink so it becomes accessible for farmers who might not have that financial ability to be going to a lot of events where you have to pay to get in.
"It becomes a great event where farmers can take a break from the farm and relax, get back into the community and talk to people. That's a great thing for their mental health because it reduces social isolation."
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Organisers are hoping the free event brings in hundreds of people from across Western NSW, including local farmers who might need a morale boost due to the drought.
"We're really targeting this towards people who live out of Forbes, to encourage more tourism to the town," she said.
Ms Downie hopes Frost and Fire allows people to see all what the Forbes community has to offer and provides them the opportunity to speak with farmers to understand and become more connected to the drought
"It will also help boost our economy," she added.
The drought has had a flow on effect in the town, Ms Downie said, with many boutique shops seeing big reductions in income and sales by 50 to 60 per cent.
"Which has hit them pretty hard, so if we can get some more people in here just spending a bit of money in locally, that will be a boost for our local community and will have a flow on effect to the farming families themselves," she explained.
"It's the family owned small businesses in town that have taken a hit.... it's those smaller shops that are certainly feeling the impact of the drought."