Centre manager, Shannon O’Connor, said the Festival is a very strategically, well placed event to do the best for the town.

“Cherries have been described as being the lights that are turned on and off,” Mr O’Connor said.

This year the Cherry Festival will attract more marketing and for the first time there will be merchandising for the event. Mr O’Connor said he is expecting about 24,000 visitors to the town during the Festival.

Cherry Queen, Emily Calvert, said she has enjoyed her time as Young’s ambassador and joked about her upcoming trip to the USA where she hopes to meet a country town Pumpkin Queen.

Applications for this year’s Cherry Queen contest are now open and the call for entrants has now officially gone out.

This Year’s Platinum Sponsor was announced and is Big W.

Big W Young store manager, Roseann Seery, said she was very pleased her business has achieved this year’s sponsorship.

“It means we’re supporting the local community,” Ms Seery said.

“All Big W stores have their own way of giving something back and this is ours, with the support of our regional managers, we’ve been proudly involved in the Festival for seven years and this year will be great.”