Long lineups at Vancouver's Skookum festival blight otherwise successful 1st year

Depending on who you asked over the weekend, the Skookum Festival was either a well-oiled machine or an event exhibiting some growing pains.

Sean Waddingham and Lauren Rundellwere among the fans. The pair travelled from Edmonton to attend the three-day festival on Saturday.

"I'm really impressed," Waddingham said. "Itscleanliness and organization is nuts. Most festivals, you don't expect it to be this nice."

But other attendees complained online about the long lines for food and beer, a lack of portable toilets, and people smoking on the festival grounds.

'Urban festival'

The stakes werehigh for organizerBRANDLIVE, whichspent two years planning the inaugural festival at Stanley Park after itsprevious event theSquamishValley Music Festival shut down in 2016.

A weak Canadian dollar, costly headliners and the onerous task ofpopulating massivefields have been blamed for the slump in B.C.'s music festival scene, which notably included the PembertonMusic Festival announcing bankruptcy in 2017.

Skookum, held ata Stanley Park field near the Aquarium,was seen as the antidoteto car-dependent festivals outside the city, even espousing a zero-waste policy.

"I really think this is the evolution of the music festival," said festival spokesperson Laura Ballance.

"Having an urban festival makes so much sense on so many different levels because we are within an abilityto walk, bike ride and use public transit."

The three-day event a mishmash of 53 musical acts, multimedia art installations and food vendors drew up to 20,000 peopleat its peak on Saturday, which featured headliner Florence and the Machine.

Organizers said that number dipped to 15,000 people each day on Friday and Sunday, the latter of which was hampered by rain.

Extra toilets brought in

A notable musical roster, including Metric, Arkells, St. Vincent and Father John Misty, helped draw in healthy crowds.

"There's so many good artists for such a good price," Rundell said.

But handling the masseswas also a challenge for organizers.

One of the biggest objections: a lack of portable toilets.

Ballance said organizers brought in 60 extra portable toilets on Sunday. They also doubled the amount of food between Friday and Saturday.

"We reacted very quickly," Ballance said. "It'sa first-year festival and we're always learning and getting better."

Final attendance numbers will be released Monday.