The event was one of the few that have been able to go ahead this year and involved five hours of music, comedy, Orange wines and food.

Grapes of Mirth general manager Jason Nikolas said he was grateful the event was able to go ahead and for all the support the venture received.

Although the event is usually held among grape vines at Nashdale Lane Wines, this year the event relocated to the Orange Showgrounds to eliminate the need for participants to catch buses making it more COVID safe.

The move also had the additional benefit of being able to be held undercover at the Naylor Pavilion amidst Saturday's rain.

DJ Pedro Moshman warmed up the crowd before the main event started beginning with Merrick Watts who spoke highly of Orange and its wine in his opening, joking about Bathurst.

Watts also discussed his recent experiences of getting a taste of gruelling military training on the TV show SAS Australia that involved jumping backwards from a helicopter into Lake Jindabyne in winter.

He was followed by Nazeem Hussain, Chris Ryan and later in the day Bec Charlwood, Justin Hamilton, Cameron James and Dilruk Jayasinha.

The Grapes of Mirth was the fifth time comedian Chris Ryan has performed in Orange.

However, until Saturday's event her four previous shows were held during the comedy nights at Factory Espresso.

Like many performers, she has not had many chances to travel for shows this year.

"It's great coming out to wine country and being with people who want to have a laugh," she said.

Ryan is a 47-year-old mother of two teenagers and a former journalist who entered the world of comedy after taking part in the Raw Comedy competition.

"I really only took up comedy eight years ago, last year I won best newcomer at the Sydney Comedy Festival," she said.

"I always loved making people laugh and I loved the stage.

"It always looked like so much fun."

She said there were not a lot of women her age doing comedy so she was happy to represent on stage.

Although most of the audience was from Orange there were some who had travelled from surrounding towns in Cabonne as well as from Bathurst and Sydney.

Kylie Pull and Kerrie Thorncraft who came to the event and having attended the Grapes of Mirth in previous years and said it was always a fun day.

Brie Colley and her friends stuck out among the crowd in their Where's Wally costumes as they celebrated her birthday.

"It was my birthday, my friend [Philippa Scott] has been to this event for the last couple of years," she said.

"Merrick is great but I haven't been before she said he does really well."

Among the audience members were Caroline Myers and John O'Malley from Orange who said they heard the Grapes of Mirth was a great event last year.

"It's been a year too of not having any events so it's a great opportunity to get out," Mr O'Malley said.

Vanessa and Geoffrey Knox of Carcoar also came to the event, which was their first for the year, to enjoy a bit of fun and to share lots of laughs.