HORSHAM'S Maydale Reserve will be alive with music as it hosts the annual Horsham German Festival and Horsham Irish Festival.
The Horsham German Festival will return for its second year on November 19 - after reinvigorating from the Wimmera German Fest in 2018.
The Horsham Irish Festival will also celebrate its second consecutive year on February 29, 2020.
Horsham Agricultural Society secretary Andrea Cross said both festivals were in the early stages of planning. She said the community had shown great support to both events.
Mrs Cross said the German festival was "more orientated" towards a Oktoberfest.
She said the festival would target the younger residents in the Wimmera.
"We are looking to attract and retain young people in the Wimmera - we need to provide for them. Part of that is their social needs. We need to make it socially inclusive and that is really important in terms of growing our population," she said.
Mrs Cross said each festival had a distinctive "cultural flavour".
"The Irish festival is more of a family event - with a breakfast on the river, artisans market and afternoon entertainment," she said.
"One thing that worked really well at the Irish festival was the artisans market. We are looking to recreate that for the German fest and that will be open for the community and will form part of the festival."
Mrs Cross said the festivals aligned with Horsham Rural City Council's plan to encourage more events in Horsham.
"We are fulfilling the goals of what the city council have in their plan, and by doing so we are reaching beyond our local community," she said.
Mrs Cross said both the events garnered about 400 attendees in its first year, but she said she expected a larger turn-up for its second year.
"To run a successful festival, statistics prove that you need to run a festival for five years before you can really peak. While it was part of our research and development phase last year, we can see the potential from what we have learnt from last year events and going onto this year," she said.
"One of the reasons the dates are going to work better this year is that it doesn't clash with the Dunkeld Races or rock music concert - it is a standalone date in the community, so we are hoping that will strengthen the numbers."
Mrs Cross said tickets for both festivals would cost $20 each when booked in advance, or $25 at the gate.
She said the Horsham Agricultural Society had also introduced a new season pass worth $70, which includes two tickets to both festivals, a family pass to the Horsham Agricultural Show and a double pass to the pre-show carnival.