This years Mountain Moonshine Festival exceeded the expectations of its organizers.

More than 150,000 visitors flooded the streets of Dawsonville this past weekend to take in the sights and smells of the 44th annual Mountain Moonshine Festival.

According to Gordon Pirkle, Vice President of KARE for Kids, festival organizer, the number of visitors increased by nearly 30,000 from last year.

I have attended almost every festival says Pirkle. I have been here all of my life and I have never seen the number or class of cars we had at this years car show.

It is by far the biggest crowd I have ever seen, Pirkle adds.

This years event also pushed records in the revenue category.

KARE for Kids President Calvin Byrd said the organization brought in nearly $135,000 - more than $30,000 of that will be donated to other local non-profits.

Our numbers are up more than $20,000 over last year and they are close to our numbers from 2007, which was one of our best, Byrd said. Our numbers went up in a lot of places and I think our advertising plan really played a role in that.