More than 6,000 people gathered at the Dubbo Showground to watch a New Year's Eve fireworks show on Tuesday night, organisers have confirmed.
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"It's a break and something else to think about," drought-stricken Albert farmer Tamara Brown said.
She drove hundreds of kilometres to attend the event with her daughters.
"On Christmas Day we were out feeding sheep so this is our day off... it's nice to have a night away," Ms Brown said.
Dubbo Show Society secretary Sue Hood said organisers were "blown away" with the crowd numbers, which came despite concerned Facebook users calling for the fireworks show to be called off because deadly bushfires raged in other parts of Australia.
After "all that negative stuff that was on Facebook" Ms Hood said volunteers thought they'd be lucky to get 3,000 people at the event.
"The crowd number totally shocked us, in a good way," she said.
About $4,000 was raised through gold coin donations and that money will be given to not-for-profit organisations in Dubbo.
Ms Hood thanked the Fletcher family for funding the fireworks show, Dubbo Regional Council and other businesses in Dubbo for throwing their support behind the community celebration.
She said the fireworks caused two small fires "just behind the grandstand" but "they were put out" quickly.
