Neil and Maureen Hedger announced as king and queen of 75th Moyneyana

The former festival president and his wife will lead the procession, now in its 75^th year, in front of an expected crowd of 10,000.

Maureen said it was "a great honour" to be front and centre.

"I've been practising my royal wave, but the committee did point out I wouldn't even have the practice after all these years," she said.

"We've been in the community forever, it's been fun."

Her husband Neil shared that sentiment.

"The best part of Moyneyana is the togetherness and that community feel," he said.

"I've been involved in the festival for 12-14 years - the best part of it is getting the support from the community.

"It's an extremely important festival, it brings the community together, brings the tourists in and gives them a purpose here.

"So supplying free entertainment to them has been great over the years and I feel privileged."

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Current Moyneyana president Naomi Harmon said there were "more moving parts" to the festival than some would realise, but this year's crowd was in for a treat.

"It's going to be so good, so far we have 15 different floats registered and that'll only be about half of them," she said.

"There's trucks, vintage cars, kids on bikes, the cast of Shrek, we've got a band playing on the back of a truck, Folkie has entered a float and so has the Irish Festival.

"There's a bit of a mix so that's good."

She said the festival was an integral part of Port Fairy.

"It's really important, it gives the different community groups and organisations an opportunity to showcase what they do and fund-raise at the same time," Ms Harmon said.

"It gives kids something to do. There's just so many bits to it and the best thing is it's all free."

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