It was like a rolling rugby maul, except people were saying "sorry", "oops", and "I beg your pardon" when they bumped into each other.
Thousands of people crammed the inner city streets of Dunedin for the Thieves Alley Market Day on Saturday, and for some, walking shoulder to shoulder at a snail's pace was all too much.
Dunedin resident Robert Todd said it was his first time at the market day.
"Wow, it's a bit like running the gauntlet," he said after walking through Bath St.
"You don't really even get time to look at the stalls when you're pushing through a crowd like that.
"I'll come back again, but I have no ambition to go down Thieves Alley again today.
"It's crazy down there."
While the crowds tested some people, others thought it was a fantastic social occasion.
There was certainly no room to swing a handbag, a woman who declined to be named said.
"But the great thing is, it's difficult to walk 10 paces without bumping into someone you know."
Dunedin City Council events team leader Marilyn Anderson said thousands of people flowed through the Octagon, Lower Stuart St, Bath St and George St during the day, and he believed it was the largest crowd the market had yet attracted.
"It's fantastic."
The warm weather and more than 2000 passengers from the cruise ship Amsterdam at Port Chalmers contributed to the numbers, she said.
There were about 330 stalls selling jewellery, soaps, clothing, art work, ornaments and garden plants, as well as many food stalls and a wide variety of entertainers.
