Paul Jarman, who operates three venues in the town and watched the return of Melburnians closely in his role as a Campaspe Shire councillor, said he was initially concerned whether the weekend would live up to the hype.
“I just wasn’t sure whether we would see the numbers up here, with the Echuca races not being open to patrons,” Cr Jarman said.
“But by Monday night our figures were at about the same levels as 2019.
“It was a good sign for the summer.”
Cr Jarman was on his way to Flemington Racecourse when The Riv spoke to him on Tuesday morning, having secured a ticket to be among the 10,000 people allowed on course at the Melbourne Cup.
If being at the biggest event the state has seen since March 2020, and having his hospitality venues back up and running at full steam, wasn’t enough reason to walk away with a smile — then came his son’s extraordinary golfing feat.
Jack Jarman, the youngest son of the Jarman Group director, was playing only his third round of golf at the Echuca Back Nine Golf Course when he hit a hole-in-one.
“There was only me and him, along with the groundsman.”
Cr Jarman said it was a “slow start” to the weekend on Friday, but that could have had something to do with people not wanting to challenge the 6pm reopening of Victoria and waiting to travel until Sunday.
“I was quite concerned, because it was flat on Saturday morning,” he said.
“By the end of the day it almost ended up being the same (figures-wise) as 2019.
“And Sunday was absolutely fantastic. The weather, our customers, the amount of people and the smiles on their faces.
“They were just so happy to be out of Melbourne. And our staff were enjoying it just as much, I don’t know how many times I heard the words ‘welcome back’.
Sunday was a very strong trading day for Echuca businesses and that continued into Monday when, once again, perfect weather provided an incentive for people to be out and about.
“My gut feeling is that today (Tuesday) will be softer because we don’t have the racing crowd to rely on,” he said.
While venues were reporting a successful reopening to the metropolitan crowd, there were sporadic instances of anti-vaccination sentiment.
“There were some difficult people, but the vast majority were understanding,” Cr Jarman said.
He described the amount of unvaccinated people as “noticeable’’.
“There still is an issue with people not being double-vaxxed,” he said.
“We were absolutely not allowing anyone in unless they had proof of double vaccination and identification.
“We probably lost a couple of tables each night as a result of some groups having unvaccinated people.”
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