'It's something we've been missing': Dolly festival shaping up to be sell-out success

"There's a lot of excitement in the community, there's no doubt about it. People are very keen to see it come on and it will be a great fun weekend," he said.

"It's the start of what I hope will become a much bigger event. Dolly's such an icon of the music industry and she's just such a wonderful character and clearly one of the major stars of country music in the world - and yet she's so down to Earth and humble in her approach to everything."

Between a global pandemic and wild weather causing floods across the region - getting the festival off the ground hasn't been a smooth run for the volunteer organising team, headed by local creative Susie Rae who came up with the idea for the event.

"Susie and her group of helpers have put a heck of a lot of work into this and it's been knocked back by COVID - which was pretty devastating at the time," he said.

"Even last week the weather forecast looked as though it was going to be treacherous. But that's now receded and it looks like it's going to be a fine night and a really great event."

But the delays and rains haven't been enough to dampen fans' enthusiasm for Dolly, with the fledgling event - set to go ahead this Saturday - down to only nine tickets on Wednesday afternoon.

With tickets being sold to fans from as far afield as Queensland and the United States, Cr Davies said the whole town has been getting on board to help make the event a success.

"A lot of the shops around town already have posters and adornments of Dolly in their shop fronts so people are really getting on board and becoming a part of it, which is fantastic," he said.

"It's something on our calendar which has been missing. Trangie has the Truck and Tractor Show which brings in thousands of visitors - and we know how much it benefits the town - but Narromine has never got to that point where they had their own event."

The main event will start at 4:00pm at the Narromine Golf Club and features plenty of live music and a Dolly and Kenny costume competition judged by special guests Abbie Chatfield, best known for her appearance on The Bachelor, and TV personality Rowdie Walden.

If you missed out on a ticket to the main event but still want to get into the Dolly spirit, Dandaloo Street will transform into Dollywood with a family-friendly street party on Saturday from 10:00am to 1:00pm featuring music, markets and plenty of live entertainment.

On Sunday, the Narromine Aerodrome Tourist Park and Motel will keep the party going with Dolly Parton trivia, country music karaoke, an open mic and a Dolly photo booth.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: