There was hardly room to stand as both locals and out-of-towners lined Commercial Road at midday to watch a procession of bag pipes, leprechauns, Irish wolfhounds and penny farthings kick off the second day of festivities.

Festival president Adele MacDonald said it was the biggest and best event yet.

"Ticket sales have been going really strong, tickets were sold out for Friday in the first 48 hours," she said.

"This year we don't have any cap on people or any COVID restrictions. It's huge - we're expecting about three-and-a-half to four thousand people. It's amazing, it's not only locals it's people from all over Victoria and interstate.

"It just gets bigger and better every single year."

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Parade master Anthony Dowling said the procession was a great community event.

"We try and get all the organisations and schools and other interested groups to join in the parade and most days we just come along and see someone really well dressed and say 'off you go, you're in the parade','" he said.

"We've got all the county flags - 32 altogether. People love walking behind their flag and that's a real decoration for the street."

Belfast-born Woolsthorpe resident Paddy Kelly said it was a great event for the region.

"The beauty of this is we have people from all over the country coming to this festival," he said.

"It's getting bigger and better every year, we're meeting people now that had never come before but we bet they'll be here next year."

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