Central coast visitor Lyndel McMaster, attended with her family describing the day as "gorgeous".

"We heard about (Woolfest) on the grapevine and thought we'd come," Lyndel told the Boorowa News.

"Anything to do with wool and we're here," she said.

"We're looking forward to seeing the sheep and its just nice to be able to support the locals."

Return visitor Tara Hiskens of Young said she returned after "we came last year and enjoyed it so much we came back for the really good atmosphere".

Local girls Finlay Shore and Lila Manges agreed the day is "fun, just a nice social thing for Boorowa to do" while Canberra visitors Fayel and Elaaf Khan, originally from Pakistan, said the day was "an opportunity to see the sheep" after hearing about Woolfest from a colleague in Bungendore.

Officially opening the day Hilltops mayor Marg Roles said "Woolfest celebrates Boorowa's history".

"Woolfest has become a highlight of our Hilltops spring calendar year," Cr Roles said.

"What a delight it is for me to welcome everyone to Woolfest once again. Especially I welcome Irish Consul General Rosie Keane, this is the second year that Rosie has joined us for the Woolfest celebrations.

"I have the greatest pleasure in declaring the Boorowa Irish Woolfest for 2023 open," Cr Roles said.

Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke also attended.

"What a delight it is for me to be here today," Ms Cooke said.

"This extraordinary event is now 25 years old and has grown in size and importance over that time. It brings people to our region and is most importantly an opportunity for us to celebrate our wonderful history and heritage.

"The focus of this festival, as we know, is on our Irish heritage and of course on the fine merino wool that this area has become renown for and synonymous with for many many generations," Ms Cooke said.

Irish Consul General Rosie Keane thanked the organisers for inviting her back to Woolfest.

"It's an absolute pleasure," Ms Keane said.

"It is really really special and a proud moment for me that a town over 17,000kms from Ireland is so proud of its Irish roots and puts is so much effort and comes out in such numbers each year to celebrate.

"It really is as an Irish person so lovely to see.

"And of course there are the sheep as well. I grew up on a sheep farm in Ireland and although our sheep in Ireland aren't as robust as the ones here and I don't think they'd win the race it is lovely to see that the traditional farming and the livelihood that it brings is celebrated.

"From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the Irish consulate thank you all so very much for putting in so much effort here," Ms Keane said.

In the final official act of the day a 'blessing of the fleece' was carried out by Deacon Patrick Whales of St Patrick's Church and Arnold Spackman of the Boorowa Uniting Church.

"Each year the newly shorn fleece is placed on this stage for a special purpose," Mr Spackman said.

"This fleece is a symbol of the powerful importance the merino sheep has had on the prosperity of this district, in particular of the nation in general.

"This modern fleece reflects the great changes that have taken place over the past 30 years.

"Just as it seems the breeder has reached the pinnacle of quality, weight and value there is now a new era of genetic selection, better health measures, greater use of fibre diameter and other fibre attributes and a savvy new mathematical generation that use computers to improve their flocks.

"So today we shall bow our heads in a prayer of thanksgiving and then acknowledge and rededicate our appreciation to creation by calling down a blessing on this fleece of wool, a product created by chance and enhanced by intuition," Mr Spackman said.