Thousands of people are expected to pack out Canberra's city centre for the National Multicultural Festival from Friday, with eight stages of entertainment on offer.
Multicultural Affairs Minister Mick Gentleman said the festival last year attracted a record crowd of 380,000 over three days and this year it would be "bigger and better than ever".
"We're expecting similar numbers this year. They're putting on free transport for people to come to the festival and also shuttle buses around the outside to get you around the festival as well," Mr Gentleman said.
Scottie dogs will make their parade debut this year, while 80 performances will take place across the three-day program.
More than 170 multicultural communities will be represented across stalls and the parade.
Citizen Kay - the Ghana-born Canberra funk hip hop creative - will headline the festival, with a set on Saturday afternoon performing his new concept album for the first time.
"I'm a huge Canberra ambassador and love telling people when I'm touring how awesome the city is," Citizen Kay said last month.
"Getting to headline such an iconic Canberra and national event like the National Multicultural Festival is an incredible honour and something I never thought would happen.
"I go to the festival every year and am really excited to be part of it this year and play some new music."
Public transport will be free across Canberra from 4.30pm on Friday until last services on Sunday.
Passengers should still tap on and off with their MyWay card, if they have one, when they travel.
More than 270,000 individuals attended this year's Multicultural Festival, with nearly 100,000 of those attending more than once.
The economic benefit for the territory from last year's festival was more than $20 million.
