South-West mayors say they are open to working together on an events calendar in the wake of Warrnambool City Council cancelling Fun4Kids.

Moyne Shire Council mayor Mick Wolfe said a co-ordinated approach for the south-west had merit.

"We have already held early conversations with Glenleg Shire about this and they are on the same page," Cr Wolfe said.

"We would be more than happy to help promote an event in a neighbouring shire if there is nothing happening in Moyne.

"I'm sure other shires would return the favour, it is a win-win for everyone."  

Warrnambool City Council’s visitor economy manager David McMahon said calendar dispersal was one of the main principals of the council’s new event strategy. 

“It addresses what’s on,” he said.

“We need to know what’s on when a new event comes to us for support or permission with a permit, we need to know in good time and give them timely advice. For example we may say there is nothing on at Lake Pertobe, but did you know this other event was on? 

“We need to get a little bit more joined up with the industry to know what’s happening. It’s not just for Warrnambool, it’s for the region.”

He said there was already strategies in place to ensure things could run on certain dates. 

“We already contact other local government authorities and say we are looking at a big event,” he said. “Before the Herald Sun cycling tour I rang around a dozen odd people and also rang VicRoads and Powercor to ensure works weren’t going on. 

“If we already have a busy period it’s about increasing the visitor experience, increasing bed nights and increasing their spend.”

Corangamite Mayor Jo Beard said the council already worked closely with community groups and had a well established events calendar.

She said small events relied heavily on people coming from other towns.

She said it would be useful for large scale events to be coordinated across the councils.

“It’s got to be done in a responsible way and we’re already doing that,” she said,

“I think working together makes sense.”

Glenelg Mayor Anita Rank said the concept had merit and Glenelg was working on a regional tourism partnership that included councils on the South Australian border.

THE seaside village of Port Fairy has built a reputation as a community that knows how to run festivals of all kinds. 

While the Moyne Shire provides support to a number of these festivals through funding allocations and infrastructure items, most are ran by volunteer committees.

The Port Fairy community is currently preparing for its annual folk festival, an event considered one of the best of its kind in the country. One of the key components to the success of the festival, which will be held for the 42nd time on March 9-12, is the efforts of community volunteers.

This week, the folk festival construction crew has began transforming Southcombe Park into a festival arena.

Festival construction crew leader Jack Smits said his volunteer team play a vital role in the festival.

"We will end up with a team of 130-140 volunteers for construction," Mr Smits said. "It will be flat-out until everything is ready to go for the start of the festival. A lot of planning goes into meeting our timelines but the main thing is it couldn't be done without volunteers."