The second annual Bootfest has come and gone, and Victoria officials say the event was a success.

There isn't an official monetary count available yet, but the estimates so far reflect an exciting amount of growth from last year's event. Officials estimate 29,000-32,000 people visited the festival in total, while the 2011 festival only saw 20,000-23,000. The crowd on Friday night was estimated at 11,000-12,000 and Saturday night saw between 18,000-20,000 in attendance. However, these numbers are hard to confirm, as the event was free and open, without any gates to officially count people as they came and went.

Some of the numbers that are definite include how much beer attendees bought at the festival. There were 37,700 units of beer sold, which was twice what last year's event saw, and about 13,000 bottles of water were given away. Just the beer sales alone may be enough for the event to break even. And since the purpose of Bootfest is not to turn a profit, but to encourage economic investment in Victoria, we think breaking even would make this event a success.

This year's Bootfest was an amazing event with lots of improvement and expansion over last year, and the entertainment lineup was a huge success. We were excited to see someone with as much star power as Easton Corbin perform in Victoria. Now that we've seen it's possible, we hope the city will find an equivalent, if not bigger act for next year's event.

Besides the entertainment, there were several factors that were improved to make this year's Bootfest a success. The kid's area was full of activities ranging from a mechanical bull to inflatable games and karaoke. The square was littered with booths selling crafts and other products, downtown businesses planned events around the festival and boot makers showed attendees the art of working with leather.

But what really made this event a success were the volunteers. This year, 410 people helped run Bootfest and spent their weekend making the festival fun and safe for others. We applaud all of the volunteers for their dedication to this event and for helping the city of Victoria prosper. Your efforts helped to make this festival a first-rate event for the attendees.

The city has made some amazing progress in only the second year of Bootfest, but we realize there is still much to learn as each year goes by. So we encourage the city to examine this year's festival and start thinking about improvements that could help next year. We look forward to this festival becoming a major event every year in Victoria, and we encourage the city to keep the momentum going and strive every year to make Bootfest the best it can be. We look forward to seeing what the city will come up with next.

This editorial reflects the views of the Victoria Advocate's editorial board.