This year's Snow Queen Festival in Ohakune hit all the high notes and then some, said organiser and Ruapehu District Councillor David (Rabbit) Nottage.
"We had a huge success with more than 30 contestants from Palmerston North to Tauranga. The show was so fabulous it inspired me to go down two weeks later to the World of Wearable Art (WOW) Show in Wellington."
The first thing he will be doing for Ohakune's "little" show next year is making sure there are tickets to WOW as part of the prizes for the contestants, he said.
"WOW was just so fantastic I couldn't believe it.
"It was wonderful, from the incredible staging and lighting to the creations themselves - and they just kept on coming, each one truly great ."
In Ohakune this year the 4th Snow Queen Festival has blossomed to the point where next year's show will have to move into a larger venue, he said. "And we are already getting so many offers of help now to run the show as well.
" There was even more sponsorship from a large cosmetics distributor wanting to help out too, with lots of people already saying they will be entering as contestants next year as well ... so watch out in this part of the galaxy in 2015."
Snow Queen was originally just a thought floated four years ago that caught on and become a popular reality.
This year's designers had all slogged it out for hundreds of hours on their designs and creations, he said.
The Snow Queen is a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale so everyone was advised to read the fairytale, delve into their imagination and create great and beautiful magic, said Rabbit.
Transforming the Clyde Hotel into a fairy wonderland for the competition had been a labour of love for him and his team of volunteers.
"It looked great but we were racing to get it finished the night before."
Rabbit said just hanging and setting up the hundreds of blue and white fairy lights took hours.
"But it was worth it. The place looked stunning."
The festival had brought in more than $2000, he said.
" It was quite a crowd and it wasn't just locals.
"I think we're on a winner. I'm already looking forward to next year," he said.
"But we'll need to put in some extra categories for kids.
"There were a lot of kids who entered as snow pixies and elves this year ... so we need to cater for them next year."