Despite smoke-filled skies, the Kurow Festival Market Day set a new bar for busyness as an estimated 6000 people filled the Waitaki Valley town of about 350 on New Year’s Day.
Kurow Festival Market Day committee member Jon Brocas said before the festival officially started at 10am, 2000 people had already filled the expanded area of closed-off streets including Kurow-Duntroon Rd (State Highway 83) through the centre of town.
After having hosted 73 stalls last year, the festival market had 96 this year.
"If we had tried to cram this number of people in two years ago ... you wouldn’t be able to walk," Mr Brocas said.
"The stalls just jumped, as soon as we started taking registrations, away it went."
Food and coffee stalls were up in number, but local cafes open on the day were also filled to capacity.
