(St. Joseph, Mo.)  As Missouri's second largest arts festival comes to a close, organizers are now busy with the aftermath.

Despite crews working 'round the clock, organizers say this year's Trails West! festival was a success.

Trails West Chairman Scott Johnson and his committee worked for months to make sure this year's festival went on without a hitch.

What took more than eight months to prepare for was over in just three days.

"I think everybody's proud of it and a little bit of clean up and we'll move on," said Johnson.

This year's festival brought in thousands of people from all over the region.

"There were a lot of people coming to the gates and saying we're from Indiana, Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska," said Johnson.

The boost to to St. Joseph's economy is huge.

"If they came from that far, they stayed overnight, they probably ate here and probably ate somewhere off the grounds," adds Johnson.

Extra money like that putts about $1.5 million back in St. Joseph's pocket.

"I think this is a year where we have to consider if we're dead even with last year numerically, it's probably even more of a success when you figure in the economy," said Johnson.

Despite a rise in button prices, people still enjoyed a weekend's worth of entertainment.

"You could come down here for eight dollars and see four main stage acts that would be worth hundreds of dollars if you tried to see them separately," said Johnson.

Organizers are always looking for ways to improve the festival.

They've already started planning for next year.

The majority of the grounds will be cleaned up by Monday and the tents will come down Tuesday.

Organizers also say it looks like they'll be right on track to match last year's attendance numbers.

A little more than 8,000 people came out on Friday.

Saturday's numbers were right at 21,000 and Sunday brought in about 11,000.

An exact count will be out later this week.