Auckland's annual glbt pride festival Hero has wrapped up for another year, and organisers say they're pleased with the turnout and variety of events. The Hero Party was a particular success, attracting 1495 people in a venue which allowed a maximum of 1500. The Heroic Gardens event raised $58,000, which will be donated to the Auckland City Mission for its ongoing work in providing community-based HIV/AIDS care. Lambourne's own event, the Flirt singles evening for girls, manged to raise $800 for GenderQuest, a youth support group for people questioning their gender identity. A special Flirt area was set aside at the Hero Party this year, which helped boost the numbers of female revellers. "In the past, I think women have thought the party would be male-dominated and stayed away," she says. "We had the upstairs area at Galatos as the Flirt area, and we had a good number of women there." Despite the popularity of "marquee" events like the Big Gay Out and Hero Party, Hero spokesperson Sarah Lambourne says early analysis of website feedback from festivalgoers indicates a strong desire for the return of the infamous Hero Parade. "It definitely needs to be discussed," she says. "As part of our debrief later this month we'll be going over the survey which we ran on the Hero website. We don't have the exact numbers yet, but it's pretty much overhelming – a lot of people want the parade back."