Last weekend April 18 and 19, Lithgow Showground was set to transform into the Kingdom of Ironfest for its 21st year.
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But due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic the festival was forced to cancel only four weeks out from the iconic event of the weird and wonderful.
Despite not going ahead for its first time in 21 years, a group of dedicated festival-goers turned out online for the very first virtual Ironfest.
Ironfest founder and organiser Macgregor Ross said the Ironfest crew embarked on an ambitious plan to hold one of the very first virtual festivals ever attempted through the simple use of a Facebook page.
"The result was a testament to the talent and passion of those who make Ironfest happen every year," he said.
He thanked front-of-house organisers Lyn Hewett and Craig Batty, the general Ironfest organising team and most of all the "Ironfest 'family' of participants who provided content from the comfort of the lounge rooms".
The Ironfest 2020 Gothic Virtual Festival was held on Facebook with a program of events which included online stalls, live action role play, Cosplay, Steampunk, music, historical re-enactment, metal working and art-making demonstrations.
"It was virtually everything one would encounter in the real Ironfest," Mr Ross said.
He said obviously the virtual festival was nothing like the real event, however he was pleased with the response of people and the use of music online.
"Working out statistics for who participated is pretty tricky but at a guess we had around 300 participants and an audience of around 4700 over the weekend and counting," he said.
People can still see the virtual festival on Facebook and stalls are still currently trading.
Mr Ross urged people to jump online and check it out.
Even though Ironfest 2020 wasn't as planned he looked forward to a bigger and better 2021 festival.
"The 2021 theme will be announced in the near future," he said.
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