"I think there were 68 performances ... in seven towns, and we sold over 12,000 tickets in total, so it has been a huge success," festival trustee Victoria Murray-Orr said.
Festival arts director Philip Tremewan told the sell-out crowd at the Phoenix Foundation's closing Crystal Palace performance yesterday it was a delight to be part of such a wonderful community-supported event, which many of the performers and artists cited as among their favourites in New Zealand.
Wellington band the Phoenix Foundation brought the Festival of Colour to a close in front of a sell-out crowd at the Crystal Palace in Wanaka.
The band, heralded by New Zealand music critics for its respected and innovative sounds, proved a weekend highlight of the festival's final acts.
Acclaimed by United Kingdom newspaper The Independent as "surely the most potent band to come out of New Zealand since the far-off days of the Chills", the band brought its five-star music reviews to life before the festival audience.
Classical and jazz music fans were also well catered for yesterday as concert pianist Michael Houstoun followed up his Saturday night starring role in the Festival of Colour-commissioned play Rita and Douglas, opposite actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand, with a virtuoso matinee performance at the Lake Wanaka Centre.
Many of the audience were back at the Lake Wanaka Centre later yesterday afternoon to hear the Voices of New Zealand Chamber Choir.
Intellectual discourse from New Zealand commentators Moana Jackson, Joe Bennett and Rod Oram closed the festival's Aspiring Conversations as they proselytised on across their respective topics of the Waitangi Tribunal, New Zealand's clean and green image and the challenges of providing local solutions to issues on a global scale.
On Saturday, a multitude of colourful street performers entertained the pedestrian punters with a display of comedic busking, contortion stunts, hula-hoop antics, and dramatic mime.
Hula-hoop contortionist Skye Broberg wowed a large crowd outside the lakefront hangout Kai Whakapai, while Christchurch busker Nathan "Mullet Man" Bonner's self-deprecating comedic turn, while juggling on his monster unicycle brought laughter, almost as long and as loud as his exceptional haircut.
