The concept is to have the traditional ceremony on the morning of Wednesday, January 26 centred around the RiverStage in Queen Elizabeth Park, starting around 9 o'clock.

This will feature the naming of the citizen of the year, the Manning River Times (Ken McDonald Memorial) Sportstar of the Year, community group of the year, achiever of the year and youth of the year.

MidCoast Council will be involved this year, with the addition of the citizenship ceremony to be conducted by the mayor.

The Australia Day ambassador will also address the crowd.

There will then be a break until around 5.30pm when entertainers will perform at the RiverStage.

This will conclude at 9pm, possibly with a fireworks display.

For the third year the program will be organised by the Combined Service Clubs of Taree.

The group became involved in late 2019 when it was reported in the Times that Taree might not have an Australia Day function in 2020 unless the community became involved.

This followed MidCoast Council's decision to link its Australia Day celebrations with the Saltwater Freshwater Festival, held in January 2020 at Forster.

Organising committee chairwoman Rhonda Futterleib said the splitting the day into two functions will be a way of beating the heat.

Last January an afternoon concert was added to the program featuring local performers.

However, with the temperatures soaring into the 30s, many patrons left.

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Mrs Futterleib said the committee is confident an evening performance would be popular, based on the success of the Friday Night Live concerts that have started on the riverbank.

The committee can apply for up to $30,000 in funding from the Australia Day Council to assist with costs of staging the celebration. This could also cover the fireworks finale.

Mrs Futterleib welcomed the addition of the citizenship ceremony, where around 35 people will become Australian citizens.

Nominations for the major awards will be open soon and will close on Monday, January 10. In one change, the youth of the year will be open to anyone aged 25 and younger.