The first day of the Bendigo Easter festival has been a roaring success with tens-of-thousands of people lining the streets to enjoy the city and all it had to offer.
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Stalls selling clothing, food, arts, crafts, knickknacks and everything in between brought throngs of people onto Pall Mall during the day.
Elsewhere in the city, carnival rides, religious ceremonies, games and events entertained people of all ages.
Bendigo Sandhurst Rotary Club were the driving force behind pulling the market together, with coordinator Ted Gretgrix saying the first day of business at the group's barbeque went well.
"I think the barbeque is going pretty good. They seem to have had a constant line and South Bendigo (Rotary Club) have sold out," he said.
Mr Gretgrix said at the end of trading on the Good Friday market he and other Rotary Club members went around to the other stalls and asked how business was.
200 stalls
He said the Bendigo Sandhurst club have been running the market for decades with the last two years being centred in Pall Mall.
"(On Good Friday) there have been nearly 200 stall holders and there will be about 130 or so on Easter Sunday," he said.
"The City (of Greater Bendigo) are good enough to encourage us because as a charity organisation most of the money that we raise is spent in the local community.
"This is our big fundraising event for the year and we are very indebted to the City for helping us do it."
While Bendigo Sandhurst Rotary has been involved with the markets for decades, one group found their first market event was a great success.
Hockey Central Victoria had set up a skills and games section in Rosalind Park where they taught scores of children the basics of the game.
Representative Robyn Lomas said it was the association's first time holding a stall which has been "so worth it".
"We are giving the kids a bit of a go here and it is just great to see the kids coming and having a go," she said.
"We are getting kids that are three to four up to 10, 12 all sorts of skill levels and some of them seem pretty keen to get into hockey and are really getting the hang of it."
Eaglehawk Hockey Club helped run the stall throughout the day.
Another group which found the day eventful was the YMCA action sports team, which held a skateboarding session in Hargreaves Street.
One of the stall holders, Angus Crooks, said he and his colleague came up from Melbourne and were impressed with Bendigo's skating talent.
"It has been fun, around lunchtime a couple more kids started rocking up," he said.
"Most of the young kids were primary school (aged) and one dude had skated before ... it is just about putting in the yards, the more you practice and the easier it gets."
The skating stall we again feature in the Bendigo Easter scene with workshops taking place on Easter Saturday.
