Now in its 16th year the iconic festival has put Ararat on the map for all enthusiasts interested in the music, dance, cars and bikes of the 1950s era.

Over its history the festival has brought thousands of people to Ararat and injected thousands of dollars into the Ararat economy.

But with an active committee of just a few people, and due to the enormous workload involved in staging the festival each year, it is in danger of folding after the 2010 event.

Festival Director Bernadine Streeter has put out an urgent call for people willing to put in the hours involved to step up and join the committee.

While the festival draws many volunteers to help run the event during the five days in March, it is people willing to put in the hard yards throughout each year on the committee that are desperately needed to keep this festival going.

''This will be the 16th year of the festival and over that period of time volunteers have come in and stayed and then for one reason or another have moved on or retired from the committee,'' Ms Streeter said.

''We are struggling to have a full committee which puts pressure on the existing committee and we haven't been able to recruit any new members.''

This is despite publicising the need for new committee members and holding expos, forums and public meetings, as well as individually targeting specific people.

Ms Streeter said the committee has built up a lot of good relationships with businesses and sponsors and also has in place a sound base of infrastructure to enable future committees to run the event.

''But it's about maintaining this and keeping it going.

''We have many great volunteers who turn up for the festival weekend and help run it, but who can't help in an ongoing situation by being on the committee.

''It's a year round job - when the festival finishes in March we start planning for the next one.''