Crowd numbers were significantly down at this year’s Lismore Eat the Street on Saturday, but organiser Lismore City Council’s tourism and events officer Mitch Lowe said those who came “had a wonderful time”.

The impact of coronavirus made itself felt as only 8400 attended this year’s event, compared to 25,000 last year.

“The weather was great and people didn’t have to wait as long to line up for food,” Mitch said. “And there were plenty of places to sit, which made it a good experience for those who attended.”

Mitch said as well as the event being a great thing for the local community, food providers were happy the event still went ahead and ran smoothly.

“Especially when we are facing a time of great uncertainty with any events of over 500 people not proceeding as of today,” Mitch said.

As well as providing six hand washing stations with hand sanitiser throughout the site (which were well used by patrons), Mitch said there had been increased wiping down of the site and cleaning procedures.

“These measures we put into place to improve health and safety are strategies are ones we should have with gatherings of large numbers of people in any year,” he said.