ORGANISERS estimate roughly 20,000 people attended the Golden Horseshoes Festival at Beechworth over the weekend.
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The streets were packed for the annual grand parade, which began with a re-enactment of the story of aspiring politician Daniel Cameron and his horse with golden shoes.
Dozens of floats from schools, community groups and businesses wowed the crowd with colours devoted to the Bollywood theme.
Event co-ordinator Ian McVea said the weekend had been a tremendous success.
“It’s always hard to know with the crowd, but when there were people five or six for the parade, that’s always a great sign,” he said.
“We had some great weather and plenty of colour.
“The crowd was amazing, they really got into it.
“We had a few cars and firetrucks mucking around at the end, and that’s what it’s all about – having a bit of fun.”
Organisers made the decision to keep as much of the catering from within Beechworth and Indigo shire as possible, a choice which got a tick of approval from customers and vendors alike.
“We really wanted to keep as much money in the town as possible,” Mr McVea said.
“I’m surprised at how well it’s gone, we’ve had enough food, no-one has said there hasn’t been enough.
“All the vendors look pretty tired, I think a few have sold out too.
“People were coming through pretty consistently.”
Amindha de Silva, from Le Cart, said this year was the first time she had catered for the event in five years of living at Beechworth.
Sri Lankan street food was the order of the day for Le Cart, serving countless bowls of fresh kothu roti.
“We thought it was a good opportunity to do some food that matched the theme of the parade,” she said.
“I think people really liked it, a lot of people were curious about it and a lot of people said we should do it more often.
“If you ever go to Sri Lanka, you'll here the noise (of the flat grill) all night.
“It’s the type of food you eat to line your belly when you're heading home after partying all night.”