Thousands attended the three-day festival which officially ended on Sunday night with a jam session at the Pinsent Hotel.

Artists from across Australia and the world performed on one of the many stages with all the seats across multiple venues constantly filled.

“It’s been a really big win for the community,” programming team member Simon Solimo said on Sunday.

“I’ve spoken to a few people who are here for the first time and they love the town, and the weather’s been magnificent.

​“This year with our program we’ve tried to program some different things, some younger people so that, hopefully, some of the younger people can taste some blues and jazz.”

Solimo has been part of the festival for more than 20 years with his band Blues Brothers 3677 which closed the festival on the Merriwa Park blues marquee on Sunday, following the special joint performance featuring Australian rock band Spiderbait and the 50-member Wangaratta Horns of Death.

“The Horns of Death are all local, students and adults, all playing with Spiderbait, that’s a thrill in itself it’s good to include the kids, what a highlight for them,” he said.

Fellow co-artistic director Adam Simmons said the Horns Of Death was well received by the North East community.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend, we've been getting great responses from the audiences and the artists,” he said.

“The new artistic team have been involved with the festival in different capacities for 20 years and we’ve all brought different things together.

“We’ve really tried to take the core of what the festival was about and try to lift it to a new level.”

Ian Moss was the star attraction on the Friday opening night with a 90-minute set in the blues marquee.

American jazz trumpeter Christian Scott and New Orleans blues master Jon Cleary were also popular.

“Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen were absolutely phenomenal, the best thing I’ve seen for as long time. They were world class,” Soliman said on Sunday, “there was thousands in there last night.”

Festival chair Paul Squires said the introduction of a locals pass proved popular to get the community “re-engaged with the festival”.

“The weather’s been perfect, the program’s been sensational and the crowd’s reacted accordingly,” Mr Squires said.

“At anyone time we have over 3000 seats available in the nine venues and they’ve all been packed.”