A race to Alexandra's giant clock on the hill followed by the Mardi Gras last night had the blood pumping as the 56th annual Blossom Festival began.
Families were the focus of the festival, with a wide range of free entertainment on offer, and several hundred people lined Tarbert St for the Otago Daily Times-sponsored Mardi Gras.
The event was revived two years ago and best-dressed bike contests, bike races, bed races, a truck pull and a Festival King competition kept the crowd entertained.
"Live and local was the theme of the day and it was great to see lots of families out enjoying themselves, sometimes with several generations represented," festival chairwoman Clair Higginson said.
Earlier in the evening, The News Round the Clock Race attracted a record field of 15 individual runners. Five teams took part in the open section and a primary school team category was introduced this year and proved popular. Eight young teams took part.
Ettrick athlete Michael Wright won for the third successive year, in a time of 8min 24sec.
The 38-year-old said he was slowing by 10 seconds each year he competed.
"I put that down to getting older."
"It would be easier to run a half marathon than this race. You'd just go along at a nice pace but this race is short and brutal with the last bit [up the hill to the clock] a real clamber," he said.
The first woman home in the race was Mandy Wardell, of Alexandra.
The winning team was Breen Construction and The Terrace Daredevils took top honours in the primary school section.
Wright said it was great to see the race being opening up to junior athletes as well.
The highlight of the festival, the Grand Parade, will begin just before noon today.
Twelve floats will feature in the procession, along with a mix of "Crazy Cars" designed for the event, hot rods, community groups, bands, and a host of street entertainers.
