The mayor Col Murray on Friday described the 44th annual event as “as good as it gets”, while one of the founding fathers of the event, Max Ellis, said it had been the “happiest” festival he’d seen in a long time.

Festival director Barry Harley said while the final figures were still not in, there appeared to be certain legitimacy in the evidence that more people had come earlier than in most other years – and that this festival had run smoothly and been free of major issues.

“Yes, we think there’s been a good vibe about it, particularly friendly and family-friendly,” Mr Harley said on Friday.

Cr Murray said Friday morning traffic around the city was the heaviest he’d seen in years and resembled the normal Saturday numbers.

“And I reckon – and this is just my straw poll of moving around to see what’s going on – that there are more younger buskers, too, and I think that might reflect a broader acceptance of music genres in country now,” he said.

It had been a great and pleasant surprise, Cr Murray said, because plenty of stakeholders were pre-conditioned to expect lesser festival visitor numbers when the Australia Day public holiday didn’t tag onto the final festival weekend.

“The fact we have seen that trend overturned this year is another plus for us, and I think the numbers of good crowds at ticketed shows is another measure of success for us, and what we’ve seen up to now is a solid demonstration that this festival can be sustainable with those sorts of sales.” 

Industry observers have suggested more younger people were among the early crowds, too – a different tune from most other years, when the under-30s typically arrived at the Friday end of the festival and had their big days out over the weekend.

Both Mr Harley and the mayor say that if this trend is borne out, then it will have been because of targeted digital and social media marketing campaigns undertaken in tandem with traditional advertising.

The digital thrust has been directed particularly at younger fans – and younger families.

There was also a strategic drive into some other markets to push the “one-night-stand” or “day trippers” attraction of the Tamworth festival, particularly through the Hunter Valley, Central Coast and the immediate region.

As the long-running festival kicked into its last big days, and the pinnacle events like the Golden Guitar awards on Saturday night, organisers were upbeat about this year’s crowds and the overall program.

The 44th festival has seen one of the bigger early invasion of campers and visitors for years, and venues have reported strong and solid bookings and sellout ticket sales.

While the festival has always attracted a demographic overload of grey nomads and traditional music fans who love bush poetry and ballads, there’s also been a big dose of younger talent this year – not just in the streets but on the stages.

Organisers have reported few issues and locals might argue each year about the trends, but the traffic snarls, the sea of tents and campervans across green spaces, and the moving mass of bodies down Peel St to catch 600 buskers point to another good year.

Mr Harley said while Tamworth wanted to attract younger audiences, there was also the need to not lose sight of the festival’s roots.

“It’s very important that we maintain those traditions,” Mr Harley said.

“Across Tamworth there is still a large proportion of the visiting public who come every year expecting to see a good percentage of traditional performers such as balladeers, bush poets and the like. 

"So we have venues that cater for that, but the contemporary music we’re hearing does appeal to a younger crowd, so we’re doing more digital marketing towards them.”