Mr Horne said "the reality is that we are still dealing with a wider culture of binge drinking, and as much as we would like cultural change to occur overnight we know it takes time.
"We only have to look back at our history around drink-driving to see that it took time for a shift from acceptable to taboo.
"What we don't want is the bad behaviour of a minority to take away from the good behaviour of the majority."
Police and community partners, including Rotorua District Council, had worked hard over the years to ensure the event ran safely, Mr Horne said.
"Crowd behaviour has progressively improved over the years and most of the people are responding positively to safety messages."