With torrents of rain, a new format, and Covid-19 continuing its disruption of events, organisers were thrilled with the turnout, event manager Jonathan Cweorth said.
"Our core mission is to provide light and joy to people in the middle of the darkest time of year and people appreciate that, I think," Mr Cweorth said.
He had not done a final tally of the entries to this year’s ticketed, indoor carnival at the First Church of Otago yesterday, but he expected the total turnout on Friday and Saturday nights was "around 7000" people.
"Under the circumstances, it’s incredible," Mr Cweorth said.
"We faced enormous challenges, but the team really pulled together.
"The audience was supportive and people came out in spite of the weather; they were determined to enjoy themselves.
"I was amazed and delighted at how well it went."
In the months before this year’s carnival, Covid hit "again and again and again".
Key team members were taken out of action. Groups that had been scheduled to perform had cancelled, he said. The impact had been "massive".
Further, the lantern installation inside First Church was pulled together "more or less at the last minute" once the weather forecast for the weekend became clear.
Burns Hall was also reconfigured at the last minute when the weather forced everything inside, he said.
In previous years, the carnival has been a free, outdoor event in the Octagon.
However, earlier this year Dunedin Midwinter Celebrations Trust chairman Paul Smith said even though the trust worked year-round to raise funds, it was not enough to cover its expenses.
At that time he said the new $5 entry fee was required to cover the $250,000 cost of staging the carnival.
The Octagon had too many points of entry and the carnival had to move to the Moray Pl church grounds to enable ticketing.
The trust had made no decisions for the future and would review everything after the event, Mr Smith said.
Yesterday, Mr Cweorth said it remained too early to comment on next year’s event.
