THOUSANDS of people joined the festivities at this year's Riverlights Multicultural Festival over the weekend.
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Celebrating it's eighth year, Riverlights is a bright and colourful celebration of culture through interactive stalls, dance, food, music and arts.
The festival, which was held on Saturday, saw the city's centre transformed into a international hub with vibrant lanterns scattered throughout The Levee.
Maitland Events coordinator Portia Wendt said organisers were blown away with the community's response to the one-day event.
"It went great. We had a bit of bad weather but the crowds were fantastic and everyone was in really good spirits," she said.
"All the activities went ahead as planned. The World Stage was really popular, as was the Riverlights kitchen.
"The finale was absolutely amazing, and there were great crowds along the riverbank with the puppets interacting with people.
"The crowds were great. We had really great numbers despite the weather."
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A range of stage performances, the Language Lounge, workshops, the Riverlights Eatery in the NAB car park and 21 cultural villages were also part of the festivities.
Curious Legends curated the finale on the Hunter River, which took place after the Riverlights Procession that started at the World Stage at 8.30pm before moving through The Shared Zone and along the riverbank.
The finale also included a spectacular lantern flotilla creating a mesmerising atmosphere at the conclusion of the event.
Along with the finale performance and lantern flotilla, there was also be an official welcome and citizenship ceremony to start the festival.
Ms Wendt added this year was one of the largest in terms of the number of cultures and activities involved with the festival. "The feedback has been great. The weather didn't dampen people's spirits," Ms Wendt said.
"It was really well received. The cultural villages were wonderful, and crowd really got involved - learning about the different cultures."
Next up on the Maitland calendar is the Bitter and Twisted Boutique Beer Festival which will be held at Maitland Gaol on November 2 and 3.
Custard and Boo Seeka will be headlining the two-day festival.
