Wednesday's COVID rule changes in NSW have paved the way for the Albury Community Carols to host as many attendees as possible.
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From December 15, there is no limit on the number of people who can attend outdoor public gatherings and masks are no longer required outdoors.
Organisers of the Albury Community Carols hope to see a return to large crowds at the two-night event, at the Thurgoona Community Centre on Wednesday and the Albury Presbyterian Church on Thursday.
The carols have been provided by the Albury Presbyterian Churches for the past 10 years, and Pastor Dave Hayes hoped the wider community would take the opportunity to enjoy the atmosphere of a 'close-to-normal' carols.
"I've been involved in organising the event for the past four years, but it goes back a long while," he said.
"Pre-COVID, a big year would be 500 people, and about five years ago, there were 800 people - that must have been the year that everyone had their family Christmases in Albury.
"We're wondering if more people will attend (because of the council carols not occurring), which would be great as we've got the space.
"We're excited to be able to be back outside and singing again."
Last year, restrictions eased just in time to allow signing at carols across NSW but Pastor Hayes said numbers were still limited.
"We had four indoor concerts instead of the big outdoor activities," he said.
"We might have had 100 people at each of those concerts, so we were pretty happy with that.
"It was still a bit sad to not be outside and have jumping castles and all those sorts of things.
"So this time around, we delayed things until the 15th because otherwise restrictions would not have meant that we could have that amount of people gathering outdoors.
"We didn't want to be turning anyone away."
There will be a Christmas story, puppet play and other family activities like jumping castles at the free events.
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Pastor Hayes said all attendees needed to bring was a rug or a chair.
"It's open to anyone who would love to come," he said.
"With so many changes, it would be great to come together and consider the real meaning of Christmas.
"We want it to be a meaningful event for the community."
- Carols begin at 5pm on Wednesday at the Thurgoona Community Centre. On Thursday, carols begin at 6pm at the Albury Presbyterian Church on Wagga Road.
