Nestled among the foothills of the Macquarie Ranges, the quaint town of Molong is blessed with irresistible, historic charm - and its community is on a mission to shop local.
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Barely more than a year ago, a wall of water rolled down the Mitchell Highway - the main thoroughfare - colliding with the village and destroying much of the township's infrastructure, devastating the livelihoods of those that call Molong home.
Now, a six month upgrade of the main street has impacted on businesses in Lower Bank St once again.
But in true country town spirit the resilient town is rallying, and has found a new way to draw businesses.
An Instagram video that features local businesses to the track by Simple Minds Don't You Forget About Me has been created by photographer Emily Wilde (emandthewildthings) to encourage tourism to the town.
The video that showcases pubs, the newsagent and chemist as well as the hardware store, cafe and some of the road workers has already reached more than 55,000 views.
Molong Stores owner Robert Carroll said they needed to do something to bring people back to town as it had been tough since the flood in November 2022, which followed another the same time a year earlier.
He said the first flood came up to his step but the 2022 event washed a metre into his store and came up several metres at the bottom of the street, which impacted houses.
"People are still rebuilding, they are not back to normal," Mr Carroll said.
"People who bought shops to open are not going to."
Mr Carroll said the major roadworks started on January 5 and were planned for the next six months.
"We are okay with that," Mr Carroll said.
"They say six months of pain is a lifetime of gain, that's my saying every morning when I wake up now."
