Central Otago sub-area commander Senior Sergeant Jill Woods said about half the arrests were for breaching liquor bans in Alexandra, Clyde and Cromwell.
The rest of the arrests were mostly for disorderly and offensive behaviour.
"I don't think the behaviour was any worse than in any other years - police just weren't prepared to take any nonsense," Snr Sgt Woods said.
She believed the level of crime, litter and damage in Alexandra was less that during previous Blossom Festivals.
"That's a satisfying outcome for the festival and the community - at the end of the day, it's a family event."
Explaining the number of arrests, Snr Sgt Woods said: "We warned that there was a zero-tolerance policy and I asked my staff to arrest people for antisocial behaviour and that's what they did."
The majority of those arrested were aged in their late teens or early 20s and "a lot" were from outside Central Otago.
They will appear in the Alexandra District Court on October 20 and 21.
Snr Sgt Woods praised the behaviour of the thousands who lined Centennial Ave to watch Saturday's parade before flocking to Pioneer Park.
"We had no problem with them. It was the highly intoxicated ones hooning around in cars on the edges of the festival that were the problem."
Breath-testing checkpoints were set up at the main entrances to the town and breath-test operations were carried out on Friday evening, Saturday morning and Saturday evening.
"The cars coming through all had sober drivers, I have to say, but in a lot of cases, everyone else in the cars - up to five or six people - were absolutely wasted," Snr Sgt Woods said.
More than 50 extra police were stationed in Central Otago for the weekend, with extra staff on duty in the surrounding towns as well as Alexandra.
However, the overall number was no higher than in other years, she said.
Festival committee chairman Steve Battrick was surprised to hear of the high number of arrests.
"I didn't see any trouble and, to the best of my knowledge, the behaviour of those people [arrested] hasn't had any impact on the enjoyment of those who watched the procession and came into the park."
