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Civic festivals offer an exceptional laboratory for the study of collaborative governance because these events are ubiquitous and are characterized by public and private partners engaged in joint activity. Using the Carnival festival of Salvador, Brazil, as an example, we analyze the current models of collaborative governance to determine whether they apply to the context of large civic festivals. Drawing primarily on Ansell and Gash’s (2008) model, our qualitative analysis shows that some constructs of collaborative governance models are present. However, our results uncover other factors affecting the collaboration process such as informal relationships and the basis of decision-making. Our results also suggest that trust, a factor commonly argued as necessary to collaborative action, may be less critical than received theories suggest.Points for practitioners:Large civic festivals are a unique laboratory for studying inter-organizational collaboration because these events normally involve a myriad of public and private actors working in an interdependent fashion. Our study reveals some factors not covered by previous research that influence the dynamics of collaboration. We observe that repeated interactions between technical experts can foster informal (and effective) networks of collaboration and circumvent the problems generated by political disputes. The bases on which decisions are taken are also important factors to enhance collaboration. We found that trust, a factor commonly argued as necessary to collaborative action, may be less critical than received theories suggest.