More than 1,000 people were in Watson Lake over the long weekend to take part in the town's third annual music festival.

Most were there to see the hip hop group Swollen Members. The headline act sold out all of its 1,200 tickets.

More than 400 people turned up for the rest of the festival, which featured homegrown northern acts like Frozen Bones, Orville Brown, Art Johns and Kevin Barr. There were more than 30 bands from the Yukon, B.C. and Alaska, though solo guitarist Simon Fox is from Australia.

Festival president Sara Skelton said today everything went off without a hitch.

'It was excellent. It topped everyone's expectations,' said Skelton, adding she received nothing but positive feedback from spectators.

'The crowds were great. I think there were less problems here than in a normal weekend,' said Skelton.

'For the most part people were pretty well behaved,' said Cpl. Curtis Kuzma. 'There were quite a few residents that were concerned about vandalism, but so far there have been no reports.'

Eighteen RCMP officers were on hand to oversee the concert.

There were two drug busts at the festival a youth charged with the possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and an adult from B.C. who was charged for possessing cocaine.

Twenty-one other people were arrested for mostly alcohol related incidents. There were 76 liquor seizures and 102 charges under the Motor Vehicle Act, ranging from speeding to broken tail lights, although none for impaired driving.

'People were either walking or taking buses,' said Kuzma.

Many people who attended the festival stayed in the town's campgrounds, though Skelton said many visitors camped in friends' yards.

'My own yard was a little tent city,' said Skelton.

The Juno award-winning Swollen Members signed autographs at the Watson Lake Rec Centre Saturday after arriving at the baseball diamond in a helicopter. A skateboard competition for youth took place Sunday.

The Watson Lake rodeo grounds went under a bit of a makeover for this year's concert. Skelton said the rodeo association put in hundreds of hours cleaning the rodeo grounds, painting the bleachers and putting in extra electrical wiring. As well, a four-metre stage was donated by a contracting company.

Last year's festival was small in comparison, said Skelton, adding only a couple of hundred tickets were sold.

Skelton said this year's festival will be a tough act to follow. She isn't sure if organizers will be able to attract another large band.

Skelton was able to bring in the Swollen Members because of her connections in the Vancouver music scene.

She will not be involved in next year's festival because she will be attending music school in Los Angeles.