Dubbed the Colour Terang Festival and marking the first for the town, event organiser Ben Dennis hoped the event would be an unforgettable one.

"For a fair while now we've been trying to find out how we can get people to stop in down," Mr Dennis said.

"There's a tendency for people to travel through, we really want to have some sort of activity or event that would make it really hard for people to pass without stopping in the area.

"We know that any time there is a long weekend there are people coming through, so we shot for the Grand Final long weekend and targeted that as an opportunity."

The festival, held on September 27 from 10am to 3pm will celebrate and promote the arts in Terang and surrounds.

Activities will include:

"Jimmi will be doing a live art installation which we are very excited about, there will be live music, street markets and all those things," Mr Dennis said.

"We really want to encourage local artists to come down not only to show their art but make art so people can actually see them doing their work.

"We also want to open up a platform for people to share their music and get a chance to perform."

Mr Dennis hopes the festival will become an annual tradition.

"The town could benefit so much more if people stop and spend time here. The Port Fairy Folk Festival started off the back of a truck and it's grown to be massive.

"Then you've got Timboon that's carved itself out as a real 'foodie' destination.

"What could Terang be known for? Whether it's this or the arts more generally, we want to tap into the tourist market.

"We're really hoping this can be an ongoing yearly event that will hopefully grow. Really long-term, we hope it can actually become an income stream for the town so it can fund other projects in Terang in the future.

"Being the first year we really don't know what to expect."

The Colour Terang received over $7000 from Corangamite Shire Council through its 2019-20 grants program.

Mayor Neil Trotter said council was pleased to contribute to the project.

He said it was particularly exciting to see two new annual festivals - Colour Terang and Crayfest - and two one-off events -The Botanic Gardens 150th Anniversary Exhibition and the Heytesbury Settlement 60th anniversary-supported under the Events and Festivals program.

"These new events will add to the vibrancy to our communities provide more incentive for visitors to come and explore our Shire, as well as two of them highlighting significant historical milestones for the Shire's heritage," Cr Trotter said.

The Terang Progress Association is calling on anyone interested in being part of the festival to get in touch.

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