Fair day crowd down

Afternoon storms and a peace protest too big to ignore led to a much smaller than usual crowd at Sunday’s fair day.

The anti-war protest march in the city, which was attended by at least 250,000 people, was the main reason for the smaller than usual crowds, according to New Mardi Gras co-chair Michael Woodhouse.

Woodhouse told the Star the smaller numbers at the event would not have a significant effect on the finances for the rest of the festival.

We’ve had quite a good result from fair day -“ it’s financially slightly under what we would have hoped for, but that’s not a surprise considering the rain came down at four and lots of people went to both fair day and the march, Woodhouse said.

Despite the odds, many people stayed on until stumps -“ whether they were sitting in the rain or crowding into the dance tent. And despite less takings than in previous years, most of the stallholders managed to smile until the end of the day.

The Oz Showbiz Cares showtune stand was a surprise favourite and the Doggywood dog contest and show drew the usual big crowd of dogs and their admirers.