Festival organisers are pleased with large crowds in town over the Labour Day long weekend.
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City of Ballarat mayor Des Hudson told The Courier he was thrilled with the large numbers of people enjoying the sunshine, especially on the Saturday.
"I felt it was probably the largest first day crowd I've seen in a long, long time."
Looking to Monday, which is supposed to be the warmest day of the three, Cr Hudson said he hoped there would be just as many people to finish the festivities on a high.
"If we get some really nice warm weather, I think it [could be] the peak of the whole three days, we could really surpass previous attendances," he said.
When opening the festival on Saturday morning, Cr Hudson said there were many people waiting in the main tent to learn about begonias for the first talk.
About 80 per cent of this crowd told the mayor they were visitors to Ballarat.
"[This] is great for COVID-19 recovery ,that we keep on doing and seeing people, being much more confident to be back out enjoying community life," he said.
"That really gives us the confidence that we're back and heading in the right direction."
Cr Hudson said was happy to see all aspects of the festival being used.
"There really was something for everyone," he said.
There were families enjoying the carnival rides or participating in the craft activities.
Others chose to watch The Sway performance and Cr Hudson said he saw a huge number of garden enthusiasts walking out with potted begonias.
Harry Patsamanis from Melbourne was one visitor who made a bee-line for the stalls to make an important addition to his garden with a new begonia.
He said he comes to the festival each year to add a unique plant he does not own to his collection.
So far his trip to Ballarat had been well worth it and he described the flowers as spectacular.
Other visitors may not have been such avid growers, but were still keen to see the stars of the show 'in real life'.
Among them was Sapana Saini who brought along her family and were seeing the flowers for the first time.
"I saw them on the internet and I was amazed and wanted to see them physically," she said.
Ms Saini was also able to watch the performance from Sway, aerial acrobats who were performing at the festival in Ballarat for the first time.
"I think the artists were amazing, they had grace and it was an awesome performance," she said.
While there were some out of town visitors, others were local to the area and keen to enjoy part of their weekend out in the sun.
Ballarat local Charisma Boothroyd said she was returning to the festival after visiting a number of years ago.
She said she was surprised and glad to see so many people at the festival.
"It's just nice to see everyone out and about again and interacting with each other."
Shelley Birrell, a new Ballarat resident, was visiting the festival for the first time with her son Angus and said the event surpassed her expectations.
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"We love being in the garden, so any excuse to see flowers and be outside," Ms Birrell said.
They had managed to see the begonia display in the Robert Clark Conservatory before the line was too long.
Angus said he was able to spot his favourite flowers, the red ones.
"It's been great with all the activities focused on the kids," Ms Birrell said.
Central Highlands Water and Corangamite Central Management Authorities both had stalls at the festival geared to engaging younger children.
Corangamite CMA citizen science project officer, Kristen Lees said she had gathered a number of water bugs from Lake Wendouree for the children to see on Saturday.
She said it was important for both children and adults to realise the bugs "show us how healthy the water is".
Festival goers were also able to sign their name to a water pipe that will be installed under Ballarat for CHW Big Sewer Project.
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