The seventh festival featured 52 shows including comedy, theatre, dance, music and the Aspiring Conversations series with performances centred in Wanaka, with some in Glenorchy, Luggate and Bannockburn.
Festival general manager Lindsey Schofield said 31 shows were sold out and ticket sales exceeded the budget.
Ms Schofield attributed the success to the mix of ''top notch'' local, national and international acts. ''The community production Sing It to my Face was outstanding and people are still talking about what a great experience it was, not just for the singers but also for the audience.''
''We also had really high-calibre international acts such as Lady Rizo, high-calibre national shows like Hudson and Halls, outstanding singers like Tami Neilson and Julia Deans, and the Aspiring Conversations, which worked really well and from which we had so much public engagement and positive feedback,'' she said.
Ms Schofield said despite the festival's continued success there were no plans to extend its duration.
''It's short and sweet, and by having it for six or even seven days people can 'surf the festival wave' as we call it, that is buy tickets for perhaps two shows a night and collapse in a heap at the end of it.''
''Once you start getting longer than that it's quite difficult to sustain the momentum.''
The last shows of the festival were on Monday night and by yesterday morning builders were dismantling the Crystal Palace and some technical crew had already left.
Ms Schofield said yesterday she was surrounded by banners, flags and signs but by tomorrow everyone would be gone.
Festival director Philip Tremewan already had ''some ideas'' for 2019, she said.
