Festival Co-ordinator Mary Clarke said the event, which runs from Friday August 19 to Sunday August 21, is about showing off Dimboola to Wimmera neighbours and beyond. 

“Well the idea is to make the town people more aware of the town and the beautiful environment,” she said. 

“Even people from Horsham they’re not aware of what’s around – or even that we have an amazing river here.”

The main event featuring a six course Wimmera designed meal by Deirde Baum, with everything from the serviettes to the butter hand made.

Ms Clarke said the festival would showcase Wimmera produce and locations as well as supporting sustainable and responsible farming. 

“You have the Nullawokka tours run by Nulla-Bill and indigenous man from Queensland whose grandfather taught him the ways of tracking and Indigenous life,” she said. “It’s something you might go all the way to the Northern Territory for, but it’s right on our doorstep.”

Ms Clarke said while the festival is about food it’s also about showcasing art, history and community groups.

“It’s celebration around food,” she said.

“All the art we have is based around food – we’re calling it OOD food – out of date food.

“We’ll create a mandala by giving people out of date produce such as lentils, oats or flour and people can draw a picture with that.

“It’ll grow in size over the weekend and we’ll be taking photos every few minutes to create a film.”

She said on Sunday the festival would close with a classic, but controlled, food fight. 

“Afterward we’ll gather all the leftover food for a food fight,” she said. 

“A few volunteers will be suited up, with glasses, and placed against the wall and we’ll all be throwing food at them.”

The event also features tours of Pink Lake, camp fire ovens, cooking classes and Wheaton’s scrub barbecue.