Full houses were common place, as music lovers flooded into venues such as the Drill Hall, Reardon Theatre, the Lecture Hall and Southcombe Park Stadium for an array of concerts.

Port Fairy's Jennifer Whitehead was among the throng, this time as a general festival volunteer.

Mrs Whitehead stood down from the festival board earlier this year after 22 years, four of those as chair.

She said this year's festival, the 30^th, strengthened links with the Port Fairy community.

She credited new festival directors Monica Curro and Stefan Cassomenos with this development.

"In the last few years there has been more involvement of music makers in the region, I see the role of these two as really making a serious impact in that area," Mrs Whitehead said.

"That has been very much appreciated by the really very talented musicians that have been working away for a long time.

"The collaborative aspect of their programming is really going to create a footprint."