A crowd of 50,000 people packed into Oxford's South Park for the stunning finale to the city's Millennium festival, writes Emma Henry.

OOMF! was declared an immediate triumph and proved so popular it could be repeated.

Organisers said the scale of the crowd was beyond their wildest dreams and executive producer Tish Francis said today: "People have already been asking if it will take place again. This has shown what is possible and a similar event has not been ruled out in the future.'' The weather held throughout Saturday afternoon and evening leading up to the grand finale, which featured breathtaking pyrotechnics, aerial artistry and a creation myth of Oxford.

Festival manager Rosemary Richards said: "It was beyond all our expectations I don't think any of us quite expected the numbers we got. We were really surprised. Everything seemed to have been kind to us.

"We had wonderful participation in the processions and the traders couldn't believe what was in front of their eyes when they started to come into the park. "All of the comments I heard were, 'This is the most stunning event I've ever seen, and I can hardly believe I've sat and watched that in England'.

"OOMF! was unique and I think one of the achievements is that it's only two-and-a-half years since we sat down and decided to make it the event of a lifetime.

"I think we did that. The feeling now is one of elation, that all the hard work was worthwhile." The Open City element of OOMF! was also a roaring success, with tours of many of Oxford's major treasures hugely over-subscribed. Particularly popular attractions included lunch in Christ Church's Great Hall which drew 600 people and a tour of the 13th century city walls, which saw 100 people tracing a route around Oxford.