Crowd numbers were only confirmed on March 12, giving organisers less than a month to tick every box required to have a COVID safe event.

There were questions about how the two sections - public and members areas - would work - with ticket holders only allowed in the zone they have a ticket for.

However, if day one is anything to go by, I would say the organisers have done a great job.

In the public section there are picnic tables where punters can watch the action - a nice touch that created a relaxed vibe.

There was plenty of available seating in the grand stand and very few queues for betting, drinks or food.

One thing that I think will go down in history and be the subject of jokes around the dinner table in years to come is friends talking to each other over the fence.

Patrons in the members section would stand on one side of the white picket fence dividing the members and public area chatting and even sharing food.

It's one of those things that people will be telling their kids about in years to come - back in 2021 my friends and I had to talk over the fence because I had a public section ticket and he had a members section ticket.

Luckily, patrons were taking the restrictions in their stride, clearly just happy to be back at the track.

"On the first, come down to the poor end of town," a bookie in the public area joked before the first race.

You could see the twinkle in the eye of many senior members of the community - they were clearly over the moon to be back at the carnival.

So if you're heading to the carnival this week, be ready to sign in with a QR code at the front gate, but mostly - enjoy!