At Hawaiian Shave Ice, Tamworth couple Greg and Wendy Berger had frequent queues forming outside their van at the junction of Peel and Brisbane streets.

It’s their 13th festival and they agreed hot days were good for turnover.

“It’s been very constant all day. It’s so hot that rather than icecream, people are looking for that thirst quencher,” Mrs Berger said.

Further down the street, Kathie and Ken Holt were doing a roaring trade in their personal cooling solutions, including neck ties, cool hats and the all-new cool cloth.

“They’re walking out the door,” Mrs Holt said, serving numerous customers during The Leader’s visit.

They’ve been bringing their range of products to the festival for the past 12 years and it’s never been any busier than the past few days.

Back up the road in their distinctive green and while caravan with a medicab parked outside, St John Ambulance was ensuring festival-goers didn’t get hot under the collar.

Event commander Peter Cameron, from Armidale, told The Leader they’d already treated numerous people for heat-related illness, including dehydration and dizziness.

“This has been the busiest day (of the festival) so far but with 40 degrees predicted, we’d put on extra staff,” Mr Cameron said.