A mass of singles are set to mingle at a ball in Middlemarch tonight.
Middlemarch Singles Ball committee chairman Mark O’Neill said 700 tickets were made available for the ball, 100 more than usual, the farmer from Hyde said.
Mr O'Neill expected the event to sell out, setting an attendance record, before the first hopefuls entered the ball marquee at Middlemarch Showgrounds.
The two-yearly ball began 16 years ago and started as a bid to find wives for farmers.
"When it first started, the population in Middlemarch was more or less run by single cockies of all ages and someone came up with an idea to start this and it’s run quite well."
However, the demographic had changed as single women, young and old, worked on farms in the region.
A "big contingent" of foreign women, some working as nannies in the area, would attend the ball, he said.
On Christmas Day last year a woman proposed to a man she met at the Middlemarch Singles Ball last year, he said.
The theme of the ball was "black & bling" to encourage people to wear their black glad rags and sparkling accessories.
The ball was a chance for people to meet their soul mate, he said.
"If there are single men and single women there’s a good a chance as any — it doesn’t just have to be a woman or a man either — we’re not hicks up here."
