Gore's inaugural Tussock Country Music Festival added $1.7 million to the Eastern Southland economy, its organisers say.

The nine-day festival, held from 29 May until 6 June this year, attracted nearly 10,000 people from around New Zealand, featuring performances from country musicians such as Jenny Mitchell, Jody Direen, Cam Scott and Jaydin Shingleton.

It brought several events under one umbrella including the country rock concert Rural Life Top Paddock, the New Zealand Country Music Awards and the MLT NZ Gold Guitar Senior Finals.

NZ Country Music Festival Trust chairman Jeff Rea says the economic impact was calculated from ticket sales and post event surveys.

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"Key events organisations — the Gore Country Music Club, the NZ Songwriters Trust, the NZ Gold Guitar Committee and the Gore District Council came together to form a New Zealand Country Music Festival Trust and develop this new, lively festival concept.

"Putting together the Tussock Country Music Festival has been an exciting step in building on Gore's 40-year tradition of country music celebrations.

"Hosting an event of this scale requires a community wide effort. We're sincerely grateful to our corporate partners and sponsors, all the event teams and volunteers and the good people of Gore for getting behind the festival."

For the first time in recent memory, many events sold out.

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"The uniquely Southern variety of events delighted attendees," Rea says, "in particular the GWD Toyota Hokonui Ute Muster, the Freeze Ya Bits Off Busking competition and the Old Hokonui whiskey and food matching event."

It's booked to take place again next year, from May 28 to June 5.