Saturday's Picnic in the Parade gave fans the opportunity to come together in the centre of town and see some of the drivers in person as part of the Bathurst 500 off-track activities.

It was a stark difference to last year's Bathurst 1000, which, due to COVID-19 health concerns, could not include any fan engagement events.

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Picnic in the Parade was pitched as "a great night out under the stars to kick off The Repco Mount Panorama 500" and it delivered.

Starting at 4pm, people were able to come along to Kings Parade to enjoy live music from Clancy Pye and Max Simmons.

After a day of practice on the Mount, the four drivers from Brad Jones Racing - Nick Percat, Todd Hazelwood, Macauley Jones and Jack Smith - came down to be part of a Q and A session.

Kelly Grove Racing's Andre Heimgartner and David Reynolds also joined the picnic.

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Mayor Bobby Bourke said the event was limited due to COVID-19, but still an enjoyable experience for the fans during a race meeting.

"We're trying our best to blend in with the businesses and the community, the visitors, and I think that was working," he said.

"The people I met were enjoying it, that's the main thing."

He said Bathurst Regional Council's events team did a great job in developing Picnic in the Parade and he'd like to see the event be included a future race meetings.

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