It's been five long years since the Eel Skinners and Duck Pluckers B&S was last on, but the iconic Lake Bolac B&S ball is back.
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Currently enduring the hellish ball week that only organisers could fathom, the team behind the resurrection are working flat-strap to get the new grounds ready for the ball's return on December 13.
Once one of Victoria's most renowned B&S balls, the Eel Skinners and Duck Pluckers (ESDP) fell off the radar after 2009, one of many B&Ss to go by the wayside in the past decade as insurance and licensing issues became too much for organisers.
Five years on, and a young, rejuvenated committee of nine has stepped up to the challenge to bring the event back in a bid to boost their small rural community.
Rach Cheslett, a hairdresser by trade, and eight more under-30s are behind the ESDP's return on Saturday.
The team - a mix of Lake Bolac locals and other further afield at Colac, Camperdown and Ballarat - hopes this is the start of bigger and better things for their pocket of south-western Victoria.
Taking time out from the hectic set-up week where fencing, bars, marquees, coolrooms spring up in the middle of nowhere, as volunteers pick up the essentials of food, drinks and merchandise, Miss Cheslett was enthusiastic about the weekend and what it could mean for the area.
"It's just, I suppose, bringing people back together and bringing a lot of money back into the community, hopefully, by bringing people here," she explained.
"Streatham has a little milk bar and I look at it every day, and I just don't know how they keep going, there's just not enough people.
"So if we can get this going, then the idea would be to have a few fundraisers through the year. Maybe a little concert night and just bring people into the area - it doesn't necessarily have to be a wider region like the ball would bring - but anyone spending money (in the community) is a good thing."
Proceeds will be donated to community groups that help out at the return ball, invested in the rec ground and then what's left over will head back into the ball coffers for the 2015 event.
While the ball itself isn't returning to the traditional grounds on the shores of Lake Bolac - it's been shifted down the road to a recreational reserve at Carranballac - the notoriety of a B&S that attracted 2000 people, ran for more than 20 years and established itself as one of the best in Victoria has already attracted plenty of interest.
Around 400 prepaid tickets have been sold, and the official Facebook event lists a massive 1400 people as going, giving the committee a bit of confidence the event will be a success. And that's what they need, not only to keep the event going but to give the Lake Bolac community something it'd be proud to call their own again.
"...there'll be a lot of mischief, I think."
- Rach Cheslett, Lake Bolac B&S Committee
"This year it's about proving ourselves," Miss Cheslett said.
"The retirees that are coming back is just ridiculous. You know, we’re speaking to people and they’re like, ‘yeah we’re getting a babysitter for the night’ and (we're) like ‘whoa, did not expect that’. So the name has been our best friend, and our worst enemy at some points.
"We've had a lot of things about it not being Bolac (and not on the lake), but Longy's not at Longy. They're 15 kilometres out of Longerenong and we're 15 kilometres out of Lake Bolac. Same thing."
The B&S grounds open at midday on Saturday, and utes will stream through the gates for a day of party games - including hay bale pools, tug-of-war and a wet T-shirt competition - before the ball kicks off on dusk and the Brook Chivell Band and No Plans take the stage. After staggered ticket pricing during the year, at-the-gate passes will set ballgoers back $140. Everyone collects a commemorative cup, ear tag, sticker, drink card, personal protection, access to food all night and breakfast the next day.
One word of advice from the committee?
"If you haven't been before, just prepare yourself for a bit of madness. We're going to try to keep it old school, so there'll be a lot of mischief, I think."