Count Festetics, a keen supporter of Hungarian literature and language, had the opportunity to organise the festivities five times to which he invited renowned poets active in the region of Keszthely including Sándor Kisfaludy, Daniel Berzsenyi, Judit Dukai Takách and Ádám Pálóczi Horváth. Locals planted trees in a grove near the lakeshore, today called Helikon Park, to pay tribute to these literary figures who also enjoyed donations from the patron aristocrat. The history of these festivals features in several works of dr. Géza Cséby.
The Helikon Festival was revived in 1958; first as a series of cultural events with the participation of schoolchildren coming from three counties later expanding into a forum for the whole Transdanubian region where pupils could prove their talent in 20 categories of performing arts. Today, the festival is held every two years. This series of art events has become a tradition in Keszthely. Published by the Foundation of Helikon Festivities for Secondary School pupils, a volume entitled Helikon 200 has been issued to mark the 200th anniversary of the festivities from which we can learn about the history of old and new Helikon festivals. Keszthely has quite a few famous writers and poets: some were born here, some spent time here studying, some others either worked or did military service such as Daniel Berzsenyi, some only stayed in the town later in their lives. From the time of the first Helikon festivals we can mention some famous participants such as János Szép, János Batsányi, József Rájnis after whom the local library was named, György Fehér, Júlia Szendrey who later became poet Sándir Petőfi’s wife; Pál Csányi, who was undeservedly forgotten between WWI and WWII, Marietta Vajda, then from after WWII we can mention Imre Györe, Dénes Csengey, József Szeles, Gabriella Kara Kocsis, Péter Morvai or Lajos Lőrincze.
Another volume entitled The Helikon Legacy (1997) was published written by Mária Ligeti Bakonyiné featuring writers and fine artists from Keszthely, followed by an anthology entitled Messages from the Lakeshore (2000) containing works of artists related to Keszthely and Hévíz. The György Fejér Library of Keszthely issued another anthology with contemporary Keszthely-based artists in 2014 with the title The Muse of Keszthely.
