And it is over. And instead of feeling ecstatic, I just feel kind of sad and empty.

The event itself was a real success, I think even more than any of us had hoped! I expected the artwork and performances to be of the caliber they were, but what I didn’t expect was the sheer number of people who crowded the streets – over 5000! – and the general atmosphere of enjoyment and excitement. Everywhere you looked everyone seemed to be having such a good time, and everyone I’ve talked to has said that there was really something for everyone, which is what we strived to do.

I can honestly say that it was one of the best nights of my life, seeing all my hard work pay off in such a big way. It absolutely made up for a year of having to deal with certain people, and I’m even considering doing it again (much to the horror of my logical self), so it was obviously a powerful experience.

Looking back, even though it’s only been 2 days, I felt I handled the day really well. Problems came up of course, but I never really got stressed, it was just about working through them. A resident complained about the toilets being right outside her place – so I moved them down the street 10 metres. Solved. It wasn’t all that hard to keep calm because nothing was insurmountable.

Pretty much everything worked from an audience point of view. In hindsight I would probably lose the video projections, spend less time on them or change where they were projected from – the streets were so crowded and everyone so buzzing that nobody really spent any time looking at them. They have to be above the heads of the crowd, or we just accept the fact that they are nothing more than moving decorations (unless they’re rear projected). I’d also choose a more exciting band for the end of the night – I was trying to slow it down a little and mellow it out, which was good in terms of getting people to leave on time, but would have been better to keep the energy level up. And as I’ve said before, we should have spent much more time talking to the community.

Pretty much all of the feedback from the artists was positive, so that’s a good thing for me. I’m obviously really happy with it all, but can’t help feeling a little empty.

Signing off for now.