Men, women and children were lining up to march through the centre of Bendigo on Easter Monday.
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But as the wet weather forced the cancellation of the Bendigo Advertiser Gala Parade, would-be parade participants lauded the rest of the 150th Bendigo Easter Fair.
Scott's Mascots and Costumes owner Anita Scott said in more than 20 years of joining the Easter parade, it was just the second time it had been rained out.
She said she had a number of roving characters sprinkled throughout the four-day event.
"A lot of performers had their make up on and hair done but we were all looking out window thinking 'I don't think this will happen'," she said. "It is disappointing for the audience as well as our dancers and performers.
"There is always next year," she said. "We had a pretty good week with a lot of roving characters in Rosalind Park in the lead up. So we had done a lot of performing already.
"There were a lot of young kids who were only toddlers before COVID that are now taller and were looking forward to perming in their first Easter parade."
Props Theatre owner Alise Amarant said a lot of people supported the City of Greater Bendigo's decision to pull the plug on the parade.
"We were taking our time with preparations because we were watching the weather report and waiting for the call," she said. "It's absolutely council's call, but we had a plan b, c and d ready.
"But we support the decision (especially) when you see how the day progressed and amount of rain that bucketed down.
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"There were a few parents who were disappointed and a lot more kids. But we have seen some cute videos of people parading in their backyard to show off their costumes. So the Easter spirit was still there."
Ms Scott said being able to take part in the Sherridon Homes Torchlight Procession took some of the sting out of the gala parade being cancelled.
"Doing the Torchlight was exciting and being able to get the lights together and in sync with the music," she said. "There was good crowd reactions and we were pumped through the whole week."
Ms Amarant said it was good to be able to get one parade in for the milestone Easter fair.
"We were thrilled at that. It was a beautiful crowd that lapped up entertainment," she said. "We had a couple kids call and ask to do the Torchlight in case the gala parade was cancelled."
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