This year's king Brian Collins' daughter Leanne was festival queen in 1980, while his grandson Brandon and granddaughter Samantha were prince and princess in 1994.

The 71 year old's passion for the Ararat community is reflected in his commitments to numerous volunteer organisations.

"Hundreds of people in this town have done a lot more than I have but when I was told about it I said yes straight away, I didn't even think about it,'' Mr Collins said.

Mr Collins first came to Ararat in 1958 when his wife, Dot, was teaching Sunday school.

After managing the butter factory in town, Mr Collins went to Melbourne for work before returning to Ararat when Les Gason offered him a job at his factory, where Mr Collins worked for 27.

Since retiring, Mr Collins has been involved with the Save the Children opportunity shop, the Ararat cemetery trust, the Ararat Eisteddfod committee and Friends of J Ward and maintained his strong connection with the Anglican Church.

While having reduced his commitments in order to dedicate more of his spare time to the op shop, Mr Collins said he could not imagine giving up community work completely.

"I would miss it terribly if I gave it up completely,'' Mr Collins said.

"This town has been really good to me and if I can give something back to it then I really appreciate that.''

In his spare time, Mr Collins enjoys gardening, and in particular, weeding.

He is also a keen golfer, managing to squeeze in a game here and there at Chalambar Golf Club.

Prior to his selection as king, Mr Collins regarded carrying the 2006 Commonwealth Games torch as one of his greatest achievements.

Nominated by his daughter and granddaughter, Mr Collins said the chance to carry the torch was a turning point in his life, but felt being selected as king to be a greater achievement.

"That was wonderful but now this has topped that one as well,'' Mr Collins said.

"It's wonderful to think the people on the committee thought I was worthy enough to do it.''

Looking ahead to fulfilling his role as Golden Gateway Festival king, Mr Collins said he was most looking forward to visiting the many sights and attractions the region offers which he has not yet seen.

A humble Mr Collins said never in his wildest dreams did he expect to be selected as Golden Gateway Festival king.

"The fact that I've been selected out of all of these wonderful people in Ararat is a great great honour, it really is,'' Mr Collins said.

"The experience will stay in my memory for many, many years to come.''