The fifth of the six planned "Sundays in the Park" in 1976 drew what appeared to be, by late afternoon, the largest crowd since the series began, reported The Canberra Times on this day 45 years ago.
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What had threatened to become Canberra's first rainy Sunday in many weeks turned out, by the middle of the day, to be another glorious sun-drenched day that brought Canberrans out of doors by the thousands.
Organisers of a different event, the carnival at the Canberra High School oval near Jamison Centre, estimated that about 1000 people there also watched or took part in events as diverse as a giant sausage-eating contest, and a "Miss" Lake Ginninderra Drag contest.
If there was a common denominator between the two events, it was that everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
The craziest prize of the day was four packs of beer which went to 14 hungry members of the West Canberra Australian Rules Football Club, who were winners for consuming a 45-foot sausage.
The Maurer family from Rivett also won a dinner for two at the Ulysses Restaurant in Hawker for pushing a zucchini across the grass with their nose.