About 1350 riders and 1850 horses are set to take part in this year's Land Rover Horse of the Year, which kicks off today.
Similarly thousands of people are expected through the Hawke's Bay Showgrounds gates as sport, entertainment and shopping fills the week.
Read more: Land Rover Horse of Year ready to go in Hawke's Bay
New features set to raise the bar for Hawke's Bay's Horse of the Year
All hands on deck for Horse of the Year show in Hawke's Bay
The show will feature events such as the Hastings Heart of Hawke's Bay Friday Night Extravaganza, the Cape Kidnapper's Hall of Fame Cocktail Party and Olympic Cup.
With the competitions heating up during the course of the week, the Friday, Saturday and Sunday are expected to draw large crowds.
Event manager Dave Mee said they were "very comfortably set to open [this] morning".
"We are just looking forward to a few really good days and the weather forecast is good so we are expecting some good crowds."
It was all go, as final preparations were well under way yesterday.
"It was a very busy day, with all the jumps being put in the right place and all the rest being organised and set up."
He said the grounds were in really good condition and with rain expected last night, it wouldn't be a bad thing.
Mr Mee said they were pretty close to maximum capacity in terms of entries, with more than 7000 in a variety of different classes.
"Entries are good. They are slightly up on previous years by about only a few per cent because we are kind of at the capacity of what we can manage over the six days," Mr Mee said.
As for ticket sales, the majority of attendants bought tickets at the gate.
Horse of the Year board chairwoman Cynthia Bowers said the team was flat out getting as much done as possible before it was expected to rain yesterday.
"I understand that everything is coming together really well. I'm assuming because we've had a nice dry afternoon [yesterday] that they will be pretty well advanced with what they are doing which is good."
"We still have our fingers crossed about the weather, but at this stage it is looking pretty good, so we just want to get through the next 24 hours probably and see what the weather does and then we will feel a little bit more relaxed about it all," she said.
Today, it is expected to be fine, with a few showers before dawn and westerlies.
As for tomorrow, it is expected to be fine apart from a few morning showers, with southwesterlies dying out.
For more information visit: http://hoy.kiwi/