It is one more among the many and varied events adding interest and vitality to Dunedin and showcasing its strengths.
Late last year, as planning proceeded, it was hoped Wild Dunedin would attract thousands of visitors.
In particular, it was hoped it would feature a "key event'', one which would headline the festival and be a major drawcard.
While about 50 events are now under the festival's banner, and many should be popular, nothing has that sizzling status.
At least, the festival is under way and, as convener Neil Harraway said, it can grow.
It begins on Earth Day, April 22, coinciding with the beginning of the long Anzac Day weekend and school holidays.
Free community events are mixed with "deals'' from commercial operators.
A Wild Dunedin festival is a natural fit for a nature city of sea, harbour, hills and wildlife.
So much is so close, and the scope spreads well beyond albatrosses, yellow-eyed penguins and seals and sea lions.
The Orokonui Ecosanctuary is steadily making progress and wild places like the Sinclair Wetlands or Silver Peaks have been cited as places to explore.
The array is extraordinary, from the fish of the ocean to the alpine flora on top of the Rock and Pillar range, or as the festival organisers say, "from the high lands to the high seas''.
Mr Harraway hopes the festival will raise Dunedin's profile nationally and internationally.
That is rather ambitious at this stage, in the absence of a central event.
But if a large music event, a wildlife film festival, a mass planting or some other bright idea emerges from the festival team or from the public, Wild Dunedin can rise to another level.
In the meantime, it will, in a quieter way, celebrate Dunedin's unique nature and raise local awareness.
It can help prompt people into conservation and remind city residents of what a special place they inhabit.
There are advantages in starting modestly and then growing.
The Dunedin Writers and Readers Festival, another worthwhile event building on city strengths, began grandly with fanfare, only to be scaled back to every second year, this despite the city's Unesco City of Literature status.
It remains an important slice of life in Dunedin, however, and, as with all such events, it relies on extremely hard work by a core of volunteers.
Sometimes there is only so much money and so much energy to go around.
Sometimes, like the Rhododendron Festival, festivals surge and then sink back.
In previous generations, Dunedin Festival Week was huge.
It has faded and now seems little more than a heading under which a collection of other events are held.
There was, too, at one time the highly successful Dunedin Festival of Speed, and both the winter and summer Dunedin A&P Shows drew huge crowds.
That is the way of changing times.
New ideas and trends emerge, and a Wild Dunedin festival with conservation themes seems especially appropriate to the 21st century.
There should always be a community need to join together.
Hopefully, too, there are always community-minded enthusiasts to drive successful events.
Whichever way it is examined, and despite the demise of some, the city's list of "festivals'' includes the Fringe Festival, the Dunedin Heritage Festival, the Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Carnival, Arts Festival Dunedin, iD Dunedin Fashion Week, the NZ International Science Festival, the Vogel Street Party, the Otago Taieri A&P Show, the Port Chalmers Seafood Festival, the NZ Masters Games, the Whare Flat Folk Festival, the Midwinter Carnival, Orientation Week, the Festival of the Plain, the Chinese New Year, and the various film festivals.
They soon add up to create a city where plenty goes on beyond the normal round of sport, theatre, film, recreational and university activities.
