Photo by Hadley Robinson

BELLAIRE - No organizer could have asked for a better day for a harvest festival. No bite lingered in the air and the sun shone bright for the vendors selling crafts, the people seeking pumpkins and the kids wanting face paint.

Visitors and locals browsed through the booths of local handicrafts, chomping on bratwursts, donuts, apples or candied nuts.

People sat on hay bales listening to the tunes of Willy, Dan and Jerry ringing through the air throughout the day. When the music paused or the band took a break, you could hear the hum of wind chimes for sale at the craft fair.

Ron Egelski, the wind chime maker, was one of the 26 craft vendors in Bellaire, and one of the few newcomers. He came from Alpena and another new vendor came up all the way from Troy for the festival.

Paula Vivian, assistant manager at the Chamber of Commerce said she was looking for variety this year, with small local crafters, people from out of town and more high end vendors too. The chamber baked pies and painted pumpkins to sell.

All the factors seemed right for a beautiful fall festival, but still the turnout was not as high as some anticipated.

Vivian thought maybe the weather was too pleasant. "It couldn't be any nicer,"she said. "Maybe that's the problem too."

But more than that, the festival might have been affected by a technical hiccup the week before. A mass email sent to hundreds about the festival did not make it out, unbeknownst to the Chamber staff for several days. "The email thing screwed us up pretty bad,"Vivian said.

Living Word Church held a bake sale on Bridge Street, gave away free coffee and muffins, and set up games for kids at no charge. But organizers there also felt the crowd was a little thin. One hypothesized that less people made it into downtown Bellaire because there was a football game, soccer game and cross-country meet in Antrim County on Saturday.

Other vendors were giddy with excitement over their sales, and several local businesses said they were packed for most of the day. David Newland drove a truck full of pumpkins and other fall produce from his farm into Bellaire Saturday morning, and was happy to leave with a nearly empty truck in the afternoon.

"I'm quite pleased with the day,"he said. "We showed up and there was nobody else selling pumpkins and we have squash, which is hard to find right now."

The downtown museum was open Saturday too, though it is closed for the season, and they saw a consistent stream of visitors wandering through gazing at old photographs and the other mementos compiled there.

Hadley Robinson can be reached at hrobinson@michigannewspapers.com or by calling 231-533-8523.