Downtown Victoria hosted its first pub crawl on the last weekend of August, and it looks like the event was a success. More than 300 people registered to attend.

Participants went to multiple businesses in the downtown area and took part in various challenges. They were also given the chance to sample some of what the different bars and restaurants have to offer.

We would like to thank and applaud the Victoria Main Street Program for putting together and running this fun, well-organized event to educate members of the community about what is available downtown. The program has been working to improve Victoria's downtown area for years, and the success of this event is proof that their efforts have not been wasted.

We also thank members of the community for taking a chance on this new event. We are glad you chose to attend and participate. And now that you've seen some of what downtown Victoria has to offer, we hope you will take advantage of these restaurants, bars and other businesses more often. And we hope people will share the fun stories and locations with others who did not take part in the event. By spreading the word about what downtown has to offer, we can make the area even more successful and turn it into a hub of activity for Victoria.

Mayor Will Armstrong attended the event and said he often heard people express surprise at how much was offered downtown. "Over and over again, you'd run into people who say, 'I've never been down here.'" He said it was great to look everywhere and see people having fun.

We are glad the pub crawl was a success, and we hope to see a repeat to give even more people a chance to find out what kind of businesses and services are available in downtown Victoria.

After the event was over, the Victoria Main Street Program sent a survey to everyone who registered for the pub crawl online. We hope there will be lots of positive feedback and helpful tips for next year's event. We encourage the pub crawl participants to share their thoughts and experiences so this event can be even better and more successful next time.

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