The big winter party ended in style last night, as the curtain came down on the 2013 Queenstown Winter Festival.
In the past 10 days, thousands of people have attended a total of 59 events, culminating in a festival described by director Lisa Buckingham as ''awesome''.
''I think it's been a fantastic festival - fantastic snow conditions, there's a great buzz in town, lots of visitors; everything we wanted.''
The festival ended last night with a new version of a festival favourite.
The community carnival, which replaced the Mardi Gras of previous years, saw central Queenstown closed to traffic, enabling buskers, food stalls, community and ethnic groups, musicians and street performers to entertain the hundreds of people intent on ending the 10-day party in style.
The final event also signalled the end of a hectic weekend, with events at Coronet Peak, the Remarkables and in the town.
On Saturday morning, skiers, boarders and festival-goers were entertained at Coronet Peak during the annual Mountain Mayhem event, featuring the Suitcase Race and the Dash for Cash.
Entrants in the latter had to ski or board partway down the M1 trail before ditching their equipment, running to the base of the trail and then hiking back uphill to claim their $250 prize.
Queenstown residents Sam Hazledine, Mitchy Greig and Tony Middendorf did their home town proud, taking out the top spots for the men, women and veteran categories respectively.
More than 40 people came armed with suitcases and tactics for the Suitcase Race, won by members of the Jamaican Bob Sled team from Invercargill, with electrician Matt Malcolm just beating out fellow sparky Greg Hamil. Hayley Ackerman, of Queenstown, chose an outfit with the least resistance, wearing a tight red vinyl suit to ensure she crossed the finish line first in the women's category.
Best (under) dressed title went to Mark Wilson, dressed in speedos and a Swat flak jacket.
Saturday night saw more than 1500 residents and visitors dressed to impress at the Thriller in the Chiller charity boxing event, this year raising money for the Branches Charitable Trust.
Twenty amateur boxers, who have spent four months training, battled it out in three, two-minute rounds.
Dunedin ring-in Niel ''The Ghost'' Louw (37), training for a similar event in Dunedin, was called in to fight Sammy ''The Steam Train'' Frame (26), resulting in one of the highest quality fights of the night.
Louw got the call-up a fortnight ago after Frame's original opponent, Mountain Scene journalist Paul Taylor, suffered a concussion in training, triggering a mandatory three-week stand-down.
Speaking after his fight, an emotional Louw dedicated his bout to his father who died four years ago.
''This is for my dad - it's a good day to get a hiding on a day like this. It means a lot.
''Sam deserves everything he's done here tonight. He's a hell of a nice boy.''
Ms Buckingham said the festival had been a wonderful event to be part of and it was ''definitely something I'd like to do again''.
The Queenstown Winter Festival will celebrate its 40th anniversa
