Some 40,000 music fans have descended on the tiny town of Pemberton, B.C. to enjoy Canada's largest music festival - but it's not just the visitors who are making the most of the weekend.

Concertgoers, easily identifiable by their wristbands, are descending on the town en masse to buy supplies of all kinds.

Local business owner Garth Phaire says the festival is a windfall for local businesses.

"Any community should be blessed to have such an event happen here," he says.

Thirty minutes north of Whistler, B.C., the quiet community of Pemberton has long lived in the shadow of the ski resort, and struggled with the slowdown of a farming and forestry based economy -- until now.

"Both of those industries have shrunk in the past ten years. So to have something like this come is amazing, it's amazing for the people," says Phaire.

Scores of local residents have found festival-related employment in the months leading up to the event.

Entrepreneur Mike Zgud is one of them. His land has become a parking lot for hundreds of music fans who've driven many kilometers to attend this weekend's festivities.

"Making some money, we got two tickets out of the deal," says Mike.

Two concert tickets and about three thousand dollars so far -- for simply parking cars on his front lawn.

Some local business owners are making a strong pitch for the fledgling Pemberton festival to happen again next year.

Sipping from a plastic cup of beer in the VIP tent, Serge Cote said the four day festival is good for the region in spite of the transportation issues that have made it difficult for concert goers to get to the site.

On Saturday, when thousands of music fans were making their way up Hwy 99 to watch acts like The Tragically Hip and Tom Petty, some complained that it took up to two hours to get from Whistler to the concert site in Pemberton.

Normally, that trip would take about 20 minutes.

"The biggest issue for this [festival], is transportation,'' said Cote, who heads up Glacier Creek Developments, a local real estate developer.

"We need to improve access to the site.''

Concert organizer Shane Bourbonnais admits transportation has been an issue - but says the response from the local community has been positive.

"(I've) had lots of locals coming up to me, calling me up saying thank you for this," he says.

Locals have suggested some ways to improve the delays in and out of the concert venue next year.

Serge Cote thinks the Pemberton airport should not be used as a parking lot. Instead of putting all the campers on one huge tent city, he thinks they should be dispersed around the region in smaller clusters.

Gaston Langlois, who manages Good Time Catering, said it took more than half a day to make the trip from Calgary to the festival site, largely because of traffic congestion in the Whistler area. But he too thinks it should be repeated next year.

"It's good for the town," he said

With reports from CTV British Columbia's Sarah Galashan and Peter Kennedy.