The pair - backed by 20 volunteers - were responsible for the rebirth of the Dunedin Pride Festival, which returned to the Octagon on Saturday afternoon, for the first time since 2009.
More than 200 people were in the Octagon by early afternoon, enjoying live music, dancing, food and a bouncy castle and candy floss for children.
The event aimed to celebrate and promote Dunedin's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and intersex community, as well as offer help and support to younger people still coming out, they said.
And, among the crowd, the most pleasing sight was seeing younger people ''walking around looking really proud'', Ms Briggs said.
''It's about celebration and visibility for the whole community, and particularly young people,'' she said.
The organisers had tried to avoid making the festival a political event, despite recent progress towards marriage equality in New Zealand, but hoped Saturday's celebration would help improve any negative attitudes directed at the gay community.
The festival had been in abeyance since 2009, when the last Mardi Gras parade through Dunedin was held.
Ms Briggs put that down to a lack of willing volunteers, but this year an organising committee had been formed that wanted to focus on doing one or two things well.
