The 10-day Winter Pride officially begins today and organiser Martin King said the support for the inclusive festival from the Wakatipu community was "next level".
"The festival's now become a festival for the whole town - it's not just a group of people who fly in and have parties, it's about everyone taking the opportunity to feel like there's a festival atmosphere ... I kind of likened it to Christmas: you might not have a big Christmas celebration on the day itself, but you're still putting up your Christmas decorations and it feels festive.
"Winter Pride ... brings this festival atmosphere to town that's really unique."
This year, two more days have been added to capture two weekends, and Mr King expected the resort's business community would see the effect.
"We would like to think now that we are absolutely a critical festival on the annual calendar and make a significant economic contribution.
"Our guests also stay longer ... and that means they don't just do a Shotover Jet or a bungy, they'll go skiing, [on] the Shotover Jet, wine tasting ... they are actually the kind of guests that we need - they're not backpackers eating two-minute noodles in their cars.
"I know town's been pretty quiet, so I think it's going to be hard for people to ignore Winter Pride being there."
However, Mr King said Pride was about more than the "pink dollar", and aimed for the community at large to be "genuinely committed to rainbow inclusion".
"The whole issue now ... is about `pink washing' ... corporates willing to fly a rainbow flag ... because they want the pink dollar, rather than doing it because it's actually important to create a [rainbow]-inclusive town, and community, and event."
Mr King said highlights this year would include the charity racing day at The Remarkables ski area on Wednesday, ASB Pride in the Park on the Queenstown lakefront next Friday, the Pride ski flag Parade Day at Cardrona and the Propaganda White party, at the Queenstown Memorial Centre, both being held next Saturday.
