Conviviality reigned in glorious summer conditions at the North Gardens for an event that almost did not happen. Organisers were waiting until the 11th hour for approval shortly after the state emerged from a strict five-day snap lockdown.

On site on the day, event director Ric Dexter was happy the festival had finally got underway: "It's beautiful weather in Ballarat, some great bands, great beers, it's just a very chilled atmosphere."

Sipping a vodka with Portello in the sunshine, Tanya Stanway from Ballarat was enjoying the moment too.

"It's a good day for it," she said. "Lucky we got double donuts. I think everyone's doing the right thing, it turned out really well. It's good to see some local businesses around."

Among those were Dollar Bill Brewing as well as Delacombe based Red Duck brewery, set up with neighbouring stands.

"Up until the last minute, I was waiting for it to get cancelled," said Red Duck's Scott Wilson-Browne.

"It was pretty scary last week, so yes, happy days. I feel it makes a big difference to the people who come to have a bit of fun and drink some nice beers.

Dollar Bill Brewing's Ed Nolle agreed, saying: "To be honest, I think people from Melbourne and Ballarat needed something like this. Lockdowns are unfortunate."

Hop seller Phil Rutjens was up from Barwon Heads to catch up with industry connections.

"We haven't done it for 12 months, so it was long overdue. It didn't look it was going [to happen] earlier in the week.

"Most of our opportunities to catch up were cancelled last year. It feels like a long time between drinks."

Mr Dexter said he would decide at a later stage whether he would return to run the festival another year.

"It will really come down to the bureaucracy of the Victorian government and Ballarat council, he said.

"Ballarat council gave me a small grant for marketing, and I received half of it yesterday. I am not sure what I can do with marketing dollars a day out from the festival."

The festival was split into two separate sessions, each with a capacity for 2,000 attendees. The afternoon session sold out and around 600 places remained for the evening session. Mr Dexter believes those tickets would have sold out had the lockdown not happened. But mostly, he was just pleased the event was able to proceed.

"It's a great stress relief that the festival finally went ahead. It's been a horrendous few months but we got there in the end," he said.

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