If you ask families, no doubt they'd say it's show day, if you ask business, Melbourne Cup is the winner by the length of the Flemington straight.

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One thing is certain, the City of Ballarat isn't planning to change anytime soon with councillors voting in 2017 unanimously to keep show day as the public holiday.

Councillor Des Hudson said it was important to show support to the long standing tradition. He argues that the show only has three days of the year while businesses can run any day.

"Having attended the show for the last 23 years in my police role, seeing the families on the Friday are critical to the success of the show.

"You have a full day of sport on the Saturday which makes it more difficult for families to attend."

Commerce Ballarat chief executive Jodie Gillett said the close proximity of Melbourne Cup and the new AFL Grand Final public holiday on a Friday was difficult on businesses.

"The list of reasons that the Tuesday is in our opinion more appropriate are long and varied," Ms Gillett said.

"To name a few, Fridays are the worst day for a public holiday in many sectors, our business communities trade stretches way beyond the boundaries of our city and a lot of our industries have employees across both state and federal awards."