Skateboarders flying through the air, back-dropped by a live music stage, was the scene at Vernon's Polson Park Friday during the first ever Lillyfest.

The inaugural festival was a success in the eyes of its organizers, who are now keen on making it an annual event. 

Noah MacLeod of Local Losers Underground said likely over 1,000 people came to the event throughout the day, and while the purpose of the event was to engage Vernon's youth, he said he saw people of all generations attend. 

"We gave out a tonne of prizes, we had a lot of support from some awesome community businesses that donated giveaway prizes for the skate competitions, and we had some really amazing musicians who all put on an awesome show, "MacLeod said. "We're super happy and we're definitely planning on making it an annual thing."

Lillyfest featured a skateboarding competition at the Polson Park skate park, bringing skaters together to show off their high-flying skills. The festival took place from 2 to 7 p.m. Sept. 6 and, while the skateboarders were landing tricks, a total of nine bands were rocking a stage set up right beside the skate park, blanketing the scene with a wide range of sounds, from jazz to punk to death metal. 

MacLeod owned and operated Local Losers art shop and music venue on 30th Avenue from 2021 to 2023. Since the shop's closure, he's continued finding ways to bring live music to the city with Local Losers Underground. 

He had a feeling Lillyfest would be a hit, "but having that fulfilled was really awesome, and seeing how excited and ecstatic people were to come out ... people definitely found a lot of value in this from what I saw."

Local skate shop Okanagan Skate Co. had a hand in the production and organized the skate competition, which ended in a mad flurry as skaters attempted to land tricks before the clock ran out. 

MacLeod thanked the community for making Lillyfest a success in its first go-around. 

"We are just super grateful that the community came out and supported Lillyfest. We put a lot of love and effort into it, and so did Okanagan Skate Co., and so did all the people that supported us," he said. "It's always such an amazing feeling caring so passionately about something and then coming to that day where you're executing on this, and you just get to see so many smiles."