The annual black-tie lunch raises money for the Rupanyup community.

Rupanyup Major Events president Ash Teasdale said the Matthews family donated the crop for this year's event.

For the first time in years, the barley crop was brown and almost ready to harvest.

"The way the season has gone, the crops around here are about three weeks further advanced than usual," Mr Teasdale said.

"We had a few comments about how the crop looked different from people who come regularly.

"It's good to show people who aren't necessarily involved in agriculture that it isn't always easy, and these things do happen."

Mr Teasdale said about 400 people attended, which was on par with other years.

"It depends on how many sponsors we have, but we aim for 400," he said.

"Everything went great. We have a really strong committee at the moment and everyone chipped in to help set up on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday."

Highlights of the day included a three-course meal and live entertainment.

"We had Birchip's Brodie Glenn give an acoustic performance while we were having lunch and he was fantastic," Mr Teasdale said.

"He has played at the event for the past four or five years now and it was great to have him again.

"We also had Swan Hill band The Vibe and they got everyone up and dancing for most of the afternoon.

"The food was great again - we get a lot of good feedback about the food."

Mr Teasdale expected the event would raise about $25,000 for the community.

"It is still being tallied, but we are guessing about $25,000 - that's what we raised last year because we had really good sponsorship and this year has been about the same," he said.

"It is great to have everyone still supporting it.

"The interest we have is fantastic and to sell out all our tickets in half an hour was great.

"It's not just people from Rupanyup who come - we get people from Melbourne every year."

Mr Teasdale said the banquet was not always successful.

"We had to work hard in the first few years to even get it to operate," he said.

"It's only in the past four or five years that it has really gained momentum, and it is building each year."

The committee will now turn its attention to next year for the 20th annual Barley Banquet.

"We've already starting to think about what we can do for next year to make it a bit special," Mr Teasdale said.

"Hopefully we can come up with something good and impress a few people.

"We have started talking to people about next year and started locking some things in.

"We will have a debrief meeting shortly to discuss it."