Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival president Keith Barnett believes more people attended the festival at the weekend than two years ago.
Mr Barnett said it was difficult to guage attendance figures since the majority of events during the three-day festival were free.
However, he said, the wineries reported an increase in sales and some of the stallholders sold out of their stock.
People came from as far as Western Australia, and even Dubai, to attend the biennial festival, which attracts a crowd of between 30,000 and 50,000 people.
“We had people come from Rockhampton who asked why Rockhampton can’t do a similar festival when it’s 10 to 15 times the size of Stanthorpe,” Mr Barnett said.
“It got very good responses from the stallholders, the wineries and the public. People were thrilled with it.”
He said the grape crush and the fireworks were amongst the favourite events.
Festival goers also enjoyed the visiting celebrities, Olympians Dawn Fraser and Fiona Hannan, and celebrity chef Ed Halmagyi, also known as Fast Ed.
Mr Barnett said he would like to thank the local community, the volunteers and sponsors for their support of which was critical to the ongoing success of this major event for Stanthorpe.
Story: Rebecca Brown
