One of the major events of the Bathurst Winter Festival, Brew and Bite is a chance to sample a variety of food, wine, beer and spirits while taking in the other attractions of the festival.

The lockdown in Greater Sydney threatened the event's success, but Bathurst Regional Council's events manager Hannah Welch said Brew and Bite ended up exceeding expectations.

An estimated 7000 people attended over the two days.

"It was definitely on point for Brew and Bite and definitely exceeded our expectations in the current climate," Ms Welch said.

"We were going in a little bit reserved with how it would go. We knew it would be a good celebration, but with the new restrictions, we did wonder how people would take to it, and it was just an absolutely magical night."

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It got so busy at one stage on Saturday that new arrivals had to be turned away until others left the precinct.

Ms Welch has heard lots of good feedback so far, with families particularly happy for the early start times.

Vendors were also relatively happy with how the night went.

Mark Renzaglia, of Renzaglia Wines, said it certainly wasn't as busy as previous years, but there was still a good crowd.

He thought the number of food and drink vendors suited the reduced footprint of the event.

"I think the events team got it right in the number of stalls and the way they organised it; if they had have spread us out it wouldn't have been as good," Mr Renzaglia said.

He admitted that, after a slow start on Friday evening, some of the vendors were concerned that the event may not have been worthwhile for their business.

However, they were pleasantly surprised.

Stone Pine Distillery had a similar experience.

"It was never going to be a normal year, but that said, it probably did exceed our expectations. We thought it might have been a flop," owner Ian Glen said.

"Friday was a bit quiet, but Saturday was really good.

"We were pleasantly surprised with the numbers on Saturday and it was a good event."

Mr Glen said he thought that council had done everything it could to continue the event under COVID constraints, and that it was important to his business to attend and support a Bathurst event.

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