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Music and smoke drifted through the air as vendors and artists lined the roads to showcase and sell their wares during the 41st annual Towsontown Spring Festival Saturday and Sunday.
A total of about 250,000 people flooded the streets of uptown Towson for the two-day festival, according to Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce and event coordinator, said.
"We started off [years ago] with one block and now we're 10 blocks," Hafford said. "When you have more variety there are more things of interest to people. We have 10 blocks that we can appeal to everybody to the very, very young to the very, young at heart."
About 500 volunteers, including Towson students, helped operate the festival.
"This year, what I'm thrilled about is getting involved with the colleges," Hafford said. "I know sometimes colleges get a bad rep for the students because of the late night stuff but this shows what a lot of the students really do."
The festival had an area geared toward a younger audience - including slides, pony rides and a petting zoo - as well as activities for a more mature crowd, such as the small concerts, beer gardens and shopping.
"It's a lot of fun. There's definitely a lot going on and a lot of people here," Allison Honschke, a freshman elementary and special education major, said. "My most favorite part is definitely that it's a really nice day, so it's fun to just walk around and see everyone outside. It's better that way."
Honschke also said she had some gripes about the yearly street festival.
"It's so crowded here," he said. "People keep walking into each other. You have to really watch where you're going and make sure you don't lose the people you came with."
A.C. Handbags, a company that makes handbags and accessories out of recycled album covers, playbills and movie posters, was present at the festival.
"Typically, we do fine arts shows that are juried," Emily Gartne, who helps run A.C. Handbags, said. "When we signed up for the festival, I thought it was going to be more artists and it looks like there's more food vendors. The crowd is here, which is a good thing, so hopefully the day will go smoothly."
In addition to the businesses and organizations, there was also a plethora of food vendors at the festival. Everything from corn dogs and lemonade to chicken on a stick was available for guests with a hearty appetite.
"The food is good, there's plenty of it," Frank Turlington, who will be transferring to Towson University from the Community College of Baltimore County in the fall, said. "I like a lot of the different booths [and] all of the different creative activities. They just have so many different things and they're always so creative with it. There's really something for everybody in all age groups. The absolute best part of it is that you don't have to pay anything to get in."
Other students enjoyed different aspects of the festival.
Local radio stations were present at the event, with most of them broadcasting from the festival throughout the day. 98 Rock, 102.7 Jack FM, Mix 106.5, 101.9 Lite FM and others played music and distributed prizes to the crowd. Several radio stations sponsored the beer gardens spaced throughout the area.
Together, the beer gardens featured over 40 bands total - 100.7 The Bay had many classic rock-oriented bands play over the course of the weekend, including Around the Block, Fashionably Late, Kashmir and Great Train Robbery.
Lauren Kaiser, a junior exercise science major, also attended the festival. She said she came back after enjoying it last year, and that she enjoyed it this year for the new perspective she gained about the community.
"I didn't realize there was so much stuff in Towson. It really brings all the businesses out here for people to see," she said.
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