Great weather made for a blooming successful Alexandra Blossom Festival at the weekend.
A crowd of more than 8000 revelled in the festive atmosphere of the 63rd edition of the annual event on Saturday as temperatures reached about 20degC.
Alexandra Blossom Festival event manager Martin McPherson said it remained a community-led staple.
"It's not just done by a committee or myself, it's done by this whole town ... the effort they make for floats and sheer commitment and support of the organisation of this."
The drawcard event pumped more than a million dollars into the local economy, Mr McPherson said.
About 100 trucks and vehicles led the parade down Centennial Ave, followed by a procession of colourful handcrafted floats.
St Gerard's Primary School's Aladdin-themed float won both the school float and esteemed people's choice categories.The Combined Lions Clubs of Alexandra and Clyde won the best contemporary float category.
Spectators then carried on to Pioneer Park for an afternoon of stalls, attractions, food, beverages and entertainment featuring veteran rockers The Waratahs.
Although organisers had made tweaks to the festival over the years, the Blossom Festival relied on a formula which "works", Mr McPherson said.
The traditional values the event was built on remained an important touchstone.
"It's quaint and slightly old-fashioned and that's good."
Police said they were generally happy with how the weekend went, and there were only a few arrests for minor matters.
However, the amount of youths drinking and being disorderly around Pioneer Park on Friday night had been concerning, Central Otago sub-area supervisor Senior Sergeant Clint Wright said.
"There was a large amount of visiting vehicles from around the lower southern area who were reasonably well behaved. However, [they] had heavily intoxicated passengers."
