While it was difficult to gauge numbers, many spoken to believed there were more people than last year.
Mrs Sutherland said there was a good mix of stalls, good music "and everybody's happy".
The big attraction of the day was musician Boh Runga, along with Barry Saunders from the Warratahs, The Rollicks, The Eastern and Spotless.
Guest chef Bevan Smith, from Riverstone Kitchen, was serving vanilla bean ice-cream, while Fleur Sullivan, from Fleur's Place, Moeraki, was discussing her book.
Jim Jerram, from Ostler Vineyard, talked about wines in the Waitaki Valley and said while wine-producing was "not for the faint-hearted", the rewards were "certainly there".
He believed the Waitaki Valley would remain "boutiquey", small and quite special as a wine-producing area.
A vast array of food was on offer, from the Kiwi staple of cheese rolls, to deep-fried camembert, bratwurst and whitebait patties, along with a record number of vineyards.
Jill Squire, Jude Robertson and Leanne Kingan got into the spirit of their Argentinian asado (barbecue) stall - a fundraiser for St Kevins College's rugby trip to Argentina in April - by donning colourful flamenco-style outfits, with flowers behind their ears.
Fleur Sullivan said the gardens were a great venue for the event and she was delighted that people had dressed up to make it an occasion.
She was selling raw fish, mussels and muttonbirds which were proving popular.
Children were kept entertained by the Oscar programme, making clothes-peg bugs, bug umbrellas, juggling bugs and egg-crate caterpillars in the band rotunda.
