Event manager Martin McPherson was extremely happy with the turnout for Saturday's parade and the afternoon in Pioneer Park.
He estimated 10,000 people bought tickets to get into the park.
"I've been told the park was the busiest it had been for a number of years," he said.
"I'm absolutely stoked. I'm an exhausted but very happy man."
By late yesterday, police, invoking a zero-tolerance policy, had made 78 arrests, a similar number to last year.
Senior Sergeant Jill Woods, of Alexandra, said most arrests were alcohol-related, whether for breaching liquor bans in Alexandra, Cromwell and Clyde, or for disorder or fighting offences.
Those arrested will appear in the Alexandra District Court on October 15.
The number of arrests did not detract from the enjoyment of most who attended the festival over the weekend, festival chairwoman Clair Higginson said.
After a week of unsettled weather, it all came right for the weekend's events, with fine, slightly breezy weather.
The temperature had reached 17degC by the end of the parade down Centennial Ave, and the park warmed though the afternoon.
Despite overnight rain, drag racing at Alexandra airport and the garden tour around Alexandra and Clyde yesterday went off well.
Ms Higginson was pleased: "It was very good. The atmosphere in the park was great and the parade was stunning.
"When I was up on stage in the park, the excited expressions on the faces of adults and children really hit me.
"I was really rapt with the whole thing."
The organisers had listened to what the public said it wanted from the festival and it had paid off, she said.
"Take the mardi gras on Friday. That was a great night, which was brought back by public demand.
"Almost everything to do with this year's festival was sourced locally, so local involvement was high.
"That gave a sense of ownership and a shared sense of pride.
"The blossom festival is a great opportunity to engender that spirit, that sense of our special place."
The challenge for future organisers was to make sure that momentum was not lost, she said.
"Now we know what the community wants to see and be a part of, we need to work out how to build on that so the community takes ownership."
Although the blossom festival has run at a significant loss in recent years, Ms Higginson hoped that would not be the case this year.
A meeting will be held early this week, which she said should show how close the 2010 festival would get to breaking even.
The festival runs until October 15.
