BreakOut West turned downtown Kelowna into a vibrant hub for live music in the last week of October, and Monday organizers will offer city council a chance to pat them on the back.

In a 22-page report from BreakOut West, it was stressed the event was a success both through measures of monetary returns and community participation.

Overall, 1,535 wristbands at $20 a pop were sold, giving event patrons access to all festival venues. An additional 959 $10 one venue/one night tickets were sold.

Key to the success, reads the report, was the host committee’s vision of making the event accessible. “It was very important that all the venues be within walking distance of each other so patrons could easily move between shows.

“Non existent transportation issues enabled everyone to focus on enjoying the music.”

That said, organizers did face a few stumbling blocks.

Among the issues were the fact Cush supper club and the all-ages club, The Habitat, were stripped of their liquor licences before the event rolled out.

While planners were aware of the issues in advance, they didn’t perceive it to be a major issue and allowed the venues to be included in the event.

But, venue issues didn’t stop there.

“We found that many potential venues were hesitant to participate due to previous experiences with local festivals in which they were not impressed with the outcomes,” read the report.

“We had to stress the magnitude of this event.”

Even then there were two venues which organizers hoped to use, to no avail and two more which postponed the music for previously scheduled events. “Saturday, we encountered a unique situation in which the start of the music in two venues needed to be postponed to accommodate the UFC match,” the report reads.

“In both these instances, the transition between the crowds went smoothly and many of the patrons in the venues during the match were actually there early waiting to see the performances.’

In the end it was the volunteers that really made the event such a success. Around 140 volunteers covered 330 shifts from Oct. 20 to 25.

“The volunteers did an amazing job of showing up for assigned shifts, welcoming visitors to our city, delivering a high level of service and best of all, many have expressed interest in volunteering at similar events in the future.”