AROUND 300,000 people turned out for the second Bournemouth Wheels Festival event at the weekend, but organisers admit its future depends on it becoming more commercially viable.

Figures were down on the 500,000 that turned out for the first event last year – which took place over the late May Bank Holiday in 2014.

After that runaway success, it was immediately confirmed that the festival would be returning, but this time organisers at the council’s tourism department say they will have to go away and decide what happens next year.

Speaking to the Daily Echo last night, festival director Jon Weaver said about two-thirds of the overall crowd came out on Saturday, which benefitted from glorious weather.

He added: “Saturday was huge. The crowds that were down here were like air festival crowds.

“On Friday we were fighting the weather, but today (Sunday) has been a gradual build.

“Everybody seems to be really pleased about the whole event and most of the attractions were on despite the weather.

“You can run stuff in bad weather and you can have a great time, but we do need the sun to get everybody out – it was tested this year and we’re OK with that.”

Mr Weaver said the event would be looked at for the future.

“We want it to happen next year, but we will be looking at it. The Wheels Festival is still in development and we’re still looking at it and how it’s going to shape up, but what we do know is this event can attract a significant number, for example 200,000 on Saturday.

“One of the things that we have to do is it’s a much bigger event to finance and we have to look at the ways that we commercialise it,” he said.

He said the event was trying to bring a mix of attractions together in a seaside destination while remaining free of charge.

Mr Weaver added: “We’re looking at it very carefully in terms of how we’re taking it forward and developing it.”

He said that some new ideas for this year – such as using the demonstration straight for stunt shows from Paul Swift and lawnmower racing and the Kangaroo Kid’s performances on the beach – had gone down well.

“It’s critical for the business community and the local community to get behind the event if they want it to succeed.

“This is a more complex event to manage (than the air festival) and to communicate to people.

“Our sponsors Jeep and Fiat seemed to understand the potential of the event. We also had Sandown Mercedes Poole and Tesla and they can see the potential.”