When Duck Paterson came into The Chronicle office the news was not good.
Usually the bearer of good community news, Paterson said the Ladysmith Celebrations committee was in a bad way and in danger of folding if new blood was not injected into the rank and file.
The current crop of volunteers had been boiled down to a small, dedicated core that was hellbent on not letting the party slip into obscurity.
Naturally this was upsetting news. The Ladysmith Days celebration is a cherished, time-honoured town tradition and it would be detriment to everyone to see it gone.
Ladysmith Days may not be unique, every town has their version and their own claims to fame.
However, they are great, summer festivals held to bring the town closer, creating memories for kids and traditions among families.
And the impacts are not only local.
Properly promoted, festivals like Ladysmith Days can bring in quite a crowd that hang around and inject some dollars into the local economy.
Thankfully, this is a good news piece of writing.
Community members answered the call to action in spades and came together to save the festival and ensured great memories for years to come.
A big thank you must be marked for the bare-bones crew that held on and pushed for so long to carry this through.
To those members moving on, such as Lisa Bates and Brian Van Acker, good luck and thank you for all your hard work.
And to the new crop of recruits, thank you for stepping up and we can’t wait to party.