Organizer Douglas Smith was already thinking of the line-up for next year the day after Sunday's Uptown Live.
Thousands flocked to the city's uptown core at Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue to take in the daylong musical offerings that included the Texas-quartet Bright Light Social Hour, percussion-rich Five Alarm Funk and Americana-inspired rockers The Matinée.
"I think we couldn't be happier with the evolution of this event," Smith told The Record Monday. "I think the overall response was really, really positive."
Uptown Live organizers plan to meet with the city to "debrief" on the event, Smith said.
"We are anxious to enter into a longer-term agreement with the city to help in the planning and sustaining (of) this event," he said.
Smith looks forward to having more time to plan for next year - rather than the four short months they had to pull off Sunday's event.
Smith is the force behind the Khatsahlano and Surrey Fusion Festivals, which are magnets for their respective host areas. One of his goals is to create the same legacy for Uptown Live - to help the city show off what it has to offer.
"It seems like for the first time we are kind of in the consciousness of the Lower Mainland, and that's a huge," he said, referring to this year's event.
But for Smith it all comes down to the music.
"Uptown Live is staying true to its roots, and it's all about the music ... we are going to stay true to our roots," he said. "We want to stay true to that, and the (Uptown) BIA is on the same page in terms of what we feel we are trying to achieve."
The date of Uptown Live - funded by the City of New Westminster, the Uptown Business Association and various corporate sponsors - was scheduled to run along with the Hyack Festival parade (Smith is the former executive director of Hyack), but that date provided too little time to organize the music and street festival.
Changing the event date came with "risks," Smith said, but it was a move they had to make.
"We made the transition to the summer, and we are happy we did and the future looks really, really bright," he said.
The introduction of beer gardens brought a new flavour to the event - something Smith said they felt was necessary for festivalgoers' overall experience.
Acting mayor Jonathan Cote, who took in the festival with his seven-year-old daughter Renee, enjoyed the afternoon, munching on a dish from the Holy Perogy food truck and fresh-fruit popsicles from Johnny's Pops.
"I think the layout was interesting, and it was kind of interesting to walk around Uptown without all of the cars and enjoy a street-festival atmosphere with all of the bands," he said. "I think the city really does need to do its bit to support these types of events."
His daughter was thrilled about Uptown Live because it was her first rock 'n' roll show.
"So she played that up and was all excited to go on the first rock concert, and I had her on the shoulders," Cote laughed.
