While the festival's big drawcard - the show and shine - had to be moved to Kurri Kurri Sportsground due to the virus and eventually cancelled due to the boggy state of the ground in the wake of last week's flooding downpours, lovers of everything retro still had plenty to peruse from Friday to Sunday.

"We're really pleased with the crowds," event manager Lesley Morris said. "We were blown away with how many people came out and wandered around the market stalls.

"For a lot of the market stallholders this is the first markets they've been able to do in 12 months, so they were really happy.

"There were plenty of people who got dressed up. There were some fabulous fashions, they're certainly very dedicated. It shows that after all we've been through with COVID, everyone is looking for something to do, to get out in the fresh air and sunlight."

The Lang Street event, which began in 2004, had to be called off with less than two weeks notice last year as the pandemic raged on.

"It was devastating and difficult for everyone because we had everything planned," Ms Morris said. "We booked vans, booked suppliers, market stall people had stocked up."

The virus also led to a scaled-back event this year.

"It definitely affected us again this year," Ms Morris said.

"We couldn't put in applications to get approvals until very late because we didn't know what was going to happen.

"The biggest casualty was the show and shine car display. We usually close the roads around park, and have 400 cars on the Sunday. We had plans to relocate the show and shine to the sportsground, but we were unable to do that because of the state of the ground.

"The restrictions on dancing and outdoor entertainment meant we couldn't have the same events. We also had to cut back on the number of market stalls to ensure we had enough space. It definitely impacted the size and the scope of the festival."

But Ms Morris said they were pleased with the event given the hurdles. She said the best dressed competition was livestreamed from Weston Workers Club for the first time, attracting strong viewership.

"It was something different, it worked out really well," she said. "We had ticketed events Friday, Saturday and Sunday night and the ticket sales were really good.

"Hopefully next year we'll be back to normal."