How often do you see foot traffic in Ashburton on a Monday morning?

Yep, not that often. But yesterday hundreds took to town for the annual market day and the Bookarama opening.

And everyone enjoyed the vibe, especially stallholders happy to see customers.

"We’re loving it,’’ said Shelley van Zanten said, a stallholder selling ethical products from Nepal.

"It’s so beautiful today.”

And van Zanten said events like the market day brought the town together.

"The community thing’s been knocked around an awful lot.

"People need to come out and just feel happy, be out in the world and say hi to each other again.”

Howard Mahere, known in Ashburton as “the lolly man”, had an impressive display of candy, including a 15kg, $200 lollipop.

"It’s the real deal.

"I get mostly teenagers buying that.

"In the past two years I’ve sold five of them.”

He said the market was a chance for vendors to network and get their name out in public, as much as it was a family outing.

"Families and businesses are equally happy, so it's a win-win for everybody.”

Across at the second-hand Bookarama event, Ashburton Rotary Club’s David Mead said their opening day did not disappoint.

"It will probably have been around the same as last year (with) 150 odd outside the door before it opened.

"This will be one of the best crowds we’ve had.”

Bookarama sees thousands of pre-loved books donated to the rotary club, which organises them by genre and set them up for sale.

Last year, about $76,000 was fundraised for the rotary club, which use the funds for national and local projects like books for babes, and books for new entrants.

Tables in the Sports Hall on Tancred Street were again piled high with everything from new novels to kids’ books to old sheet music.

There was something for everyone, with the upstairs room filled with old board games, DVDs and CDs.

Kevin Keane roped his mate Andrew Currie into window shopping at the event.

"This is the first time I’ve been in on the first day, and we’re surprised by the number of people.”

And Currie got hooked, ending up leaving with a game for himself.

"I found these ones in German,’’ he said.

"I’ve been trying to learn it (the language), so I can use these to learn.”

• Anisha Satya