One of the goals of this year's Summerside Lobster Carnival was to recreate some of the energy of the carnival's early years in the 1960s and 70s — and organizers say the nostlagic vibe was a success.

The revamped festival was held July 13 through 15.

"We were certainly able to deliver and produce a carnival that the community seems to have embraced and felt proud of," said Lori Ellis, Summerside's manager of heritage and cultural properties and one of the Lobster Carnival's organizers.

"There were certainly positive comments about the site, the location of this year's event, in addition to the layout of the site," said Ellis. "We heard lots of positive feedback … it feels good."

People also lauded the event's cleanliness, food options, organization, site layout, and the fact that it dovetailed with harness racing in Summerside, noted Ellis. People also enjoyed that the midway returned this year.

With more than 15,000 festival-goers counted at one entrance onto the grounds at Credit Union Place (there was no count at a second entrance) Ellis believes attendance was "up substantially" this year — but this was the first year Culture Summerside has organized the event.

Organizers plan to retain many of the changes for next year's festival.