YOU will be forgiven for having a tear in your eye at Kendall on Saturday as the clock ticks over to mark one year since William Tyrrell disappeared.

Parents will hug their children a bit tighter as messages are delivered from William's family thanking the community for their support.

Dunbogan's Karlee Butler has been focussed on helping organise the day and conceded it would be a tough day for everyone involved.

"There won't be too many dry eyes around especially because Kendall is full of young families," she said.

"William has touched a lot of people and our hearts have been opened up once again after the 60 Minutes episode on Sunday and we don't want to forget about him. We won't forget him."

She said what had started as a small community afternoon tea was now an event which will run from 1pm until 3.30pm.

"There will be a raffle for the adults, a kids colouring in competition, a petting zoo, you can fill your own plate for five dollars, we'll have a sausage sizzle, (Bravehearts Inc CEO) Hetty Johnston will speak and Port Macquarie mayor Peter Besseling will speak as well.

"We just don't want it to be a celebration, but we hope it will be bigger than we expect because the more awareness we can get out there the better."

Kendall local Donna Wheeler said it had been a busy couple of days as the town prepares for an influx of people from various places around the country.

And are they ready for it?

"Hopefully," she admits.

Residents have been baking scones, buying ribbons, driving to supermarkets to get hair spray and purchasing face paint any way they can.

The official Walk for William event will start at Kew before the population of Kendall swells as walkers arrive between 11.30am and 12.30pm at the memorial.

"It will be a really sad day especially when the walk starts at 10.30 which is when William was taken," Ms Wheeler said.

Describing the atmosphere around the mid-north coast town she said there was a different feel compared to when William's birthday was remembered on June 26.

"Everyone's just been really busy doing whatever they can to help out," she said.

"There's no red and blue balloons like there was around his birthday, but there has been a lot of t-shirts and merchandise ordered that people will be wearing on the day. I've even had to put some aside for people so we don't run out."

But as is the case with small towns, they're not afraid to get in, lend a hand and show they care.

They've done enough of that throughout the last 12 months, but they will continue to do it because it's what they do.

"I think there will be a hell of a lot more people here than we're expecting especially after the 60 Minutes episode," Ms Wheeler said.

Shuttle buses will operate back to Kew after the walk to help people pick up their cars.

TOWN Green will have a distinct tinge of red and blue Saturday as more than 1000 people Walk for William.

Incredibly, there could be more than that who walk to Town Beach reserve with 1100 people attending the event on social media and that's not accounting for those who don't have Facebook.

Co-organiser Michelle Brooke said while the focus was not on a celebration she continued to be "blown away" by the support of local people.

"We know some walks have said they'll have jumping castles and things like that, but we don't want to have a festival atmosphere because it isn't a celebration," she said.

"I'm amazed at how far everything has come because we've got over 50,000 members and we never thought that was possible."

The event will start at 8.30am at Town Green with face painting and craft and Spiderman will make an appearance for the children to get a photo.

"We've had a bit of time in the last couple of days to reflect on what's happening and I was just talking to (fellow organiser) Kaz Boland and we both said it was amazing that around Australia the focus has been on contributions more so than donating any amounts of money," Ms Brooke said.

"A good crowd is the main thing but we don't want it to be a major show."

Throughout the country there are more than 250 events taking place.

Ms Brooke said those who won't be able to attend the walk will show their support in a variety of other ways.

"Different people I've spoken to said while they can't do the walk they'll do things like hang Spiderman on their mailboxes or put photos of William on their fences so it's great to see everyone's on the same page," she said.

"Even if they can't make it to the walk they want to do their bit."

EVERY man and his dog will Walk for William in Port Macquarie tomorrow to mark the 12-month anniversary of the disappearance of toddler William Tyrrell.

Port Macquarie Dog Training Club and co-organiser Betty Lambert said they normally had a dog walk every fortnight but felt this weekend was a good chance to combine the walk with one for William.

"We normally have a walk from Lighthouse Beach but we thought it would be a good idea to combine the two and Walk for William as well," she said.

Attendees and their four-legged friends are encouraged to meet tomorrow at 10.15am near the entrance to Lighthouse Beach before they will walk south towards Lake Cathie.

"We usually walk a fair distance," Ms Lambert said.

"We'll start walking at 10.30am from the camel entrance to Lighthouse Beach because they're not there of a Saturday so it's a good chance for us to meet there before we start our walk.

"We normally have about 12 people who walk all the time but we're hoping we might get up to 20 or 30 people because of what's happening on the day."

Ms Lambert encouraged owners to bring treats instead of toys.

"Some of us have multiple dogs so we might end up having more dogs than people, but we ask them not to bring balls or tug ropes because that could pose problems. Bring some treats instead," she said.

"We usually have a lot of different dogs there; pure-breeds, cross-breeds, dogs that love the water, dogs that don't love the water."