It may be too early to tell, but festival coordinator Sharon Radtke estimated that 75,000 to 80,000 people attended the 43rd East Lansing Art Festival.
While the festival's official estimate — made with the aid of aerial photography — was not available at press time, Radtke said "(on Saturday) the area was filled from noon to close."
Radtke did have a way of measuring how many people visited the festival's children's area on Saturday, as 1,000 balloons were given away throughout the day.
Performance coordinator Wanda Degen noted that people were flocking to the festival's two musical stages as well.
"We had huge crowds," she said. "We had bigger crowds consistently at both stages."
The weekend's weather was highly conducive to attendance, with temperatures reaching a high of 67 degrees on Saturday, according to www.weather.com.
However, Sunday's temperatures and slight breeze did not help one local ice cream shop.
"It's too cold; people don't want ice cream yet," Melting Moments manager Lisa Belen said. "It needs to warm up 20 degrees."
Food and music weren't the only things people were showing up for at the festival; the art itself was being judged for one of many possible awards.
A group of city officials and festival board members — including Radtke and Mayor Sam Singh — handed out awards to 19 outstanding artists on Sunday.
The winners were chosen by a team of four jurors, who are all artists or evaluators in different fields of art.
"Obviously the recognition and the support of the festival is great for this community, and I think people enjoy the fact that they're being recognized for their good work," Singh said.
Photographer Xavier Nuez was given The City Award, which provides $500 to the artist to display a piece of his choice at City Hall.
Nuez brought two separate bodies of work to the festival: "Alleys & Fire Escapes," featuring nighttime photos of urban landscapes, and "Crystalys," a series of close-up images of reglazed, repainted and refired dinner plates.
"I find I do well in any city where people have grown up seeing alleys," he said. "A place like Florida, for instance — not my crowd, not my customer. But, you know, Northeast, Midwest, I do great."
Donald Brown won the Shirley Minarchin Honorary Award for his "super-detailed watercolors," many of which portray old storefronts and antique signage.
It was Brown's first time at the festival, and he said it lived up to its good reputation.
"I like the quality of the show," he said. "I like the layout; the crowds are nice. It's, of course, always nice to win an award too."
Festival attendees had the chance to enjoy some dancing along with the art.
The Latin jazz of Los Gatos inspired many a festival-goer to, as the kids say, bust a move. Lansing resident Cindy Russell showed her skills in salsa, samba and cha-cha.
"I can't stand to sit down when there's salsa music playing," she said.
Degen said the one performance that stood out for her was country and folk act Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines.
"I was real excited about them because they've never been here before, and they came from Texas," she said. "They had a really nice turn out, and that was really cool."
Degen was thankful for the weather, as well as some extra assistance.
"There's been a lot of help this year," she said. "I've had some emcees helping me out, which has been new, and we just keep on tweaking things and making things run smoother."
