Thousands of people flock to Moruya for 'spectacular' end to River of Art

The event was headlined by a laser show creatively developed by Duncan Irving and included other artwork beamed on screens across the park, musical acts throughout the night, and a special night market for local artisans.

River of Art co-chair Leanne Joyce said organisers were "stoked" with how well the night was received.

"There's been a massive surge (of tickets) over the past few days," she said. "We were worried about the rain, but it didn't seem to bother people, they just said 'we're coming'.

"The whole festival ran really smoothly, we've had record entries for programs and all the artists say there's been a lot of people through and buying their works.

"Our heart will always be in supporting local artists through open studios and exhibitions, but we'd love to add this creative light show as a part of our offerings in the future."

Creative Director of Luminous and River of Art co-chair, Di Jay, said the show "exceeded our expectations".

"We had 4000 people through the gates, and a huge number of those came on the day to buy tickets," she said.

"Being the start of school holidays, we know a lot of people were already here, learnt about the event shortly beforehand and decided to bring their kids along.

"It was a family oriented event, and it's worked from a tourism point of view."

Ms Jay said the committee would "take stock" of the success of the event before planning began for next year.

"We'll debrief, but for a first-time event, we're thrilled with how well it went," she said.

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"Our contractors were staggering, Dynamic Audio Visual have worked with us for more than two years to pull this off, and there's a real thrill that it finally happened and happened so well.

"People running stalls on the night said they had more sales during the event than they would at a market for two to three weeks. It gave people an opportunity to showcase their work."

Ms Jay said the feedback on the laser show had been fantastic.

"People said they had no idea it was going to be so spectacular," she said.

"I think people just didn't know there was that type of creative capability in this region, but there's this really strong underbelly of creative talent in the Eurobodalla, and all of that has come together this year in an amazing way.

"The collaboration between Duncan Irving and Genius Laser was just that, and Duncan's designs and music score blew people away. People are already asking us what's happening next year."

Ms Jay was tight lipped when asked about the potential for another Luminous-type event next year, but did confirm dates had already been locked in for the 2023 River of Art Festival.

"The Festival will run from September 14 to 25, and our plan is to have a big event at the end of the Festival," she said.

"Exactly what that will look like, we'll reveal as we get closer."

Ms Jay thanked the event's sponsors, saying Luminous wouldn't have happened without them.

"We couldn't have delivered the event without help from the Waterfront Hotel, they're a great friend of River of Art," she said.

"The contributions from Essential Energy, Ray White, Southern Phone and Horizon Bank were bigger and better than we've had before, and they were all in force there on the night."