Thousands of people lined Auckland's Ponsonby Road to watch the first gay street parade in 12 years.
The parade is now known as the Pride Parade.
The event which celebrated the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community was last held in 2001, and was then known as the Hero Parade.
But it stopped after running into financial difficulty.
However corporate sponsorship and $100,000 from the Auckland Council got the event back on its heels and it was a family friendly event this time round.
"It's about being one community, and we all now have children so have to bear that in mind," said Jonathan Smith, Pride Parade organiser.
And in a New Zealand first, the parade featured members of the New Zealand Defence Force marching in uniform.
"It's a great opportunity for the Defence Force to demonstrate that it's a truly modern military, one that values all of its people and recognises that diversity is one of our key strengths as opposed to a weakness," said Stu Pearce of the Defence Force.
The Auckland Pride Festival was one of 22 successful applicants that received funding from Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Major Events Sponsorship for the 2012/2013 year.
The Festival is expected to contribute an additional 7500 visitor nights to Auckland's visitor economy and $784,000 to Auckland's GDP.
Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Auckland Sky Tower were lit in rainbow colours last night for the event.
With this year's success, many are hoping the Pride Parade will once again become an annual event along Ponsonby Road.