ASHFIELD — Sunday morning was cloudy and gray, but the rain cleared away just in time for the second day of the 54th Ashfield Fall Festival, and all the community celebratory fun scheduled with it.

Since October of 1970, Ashfield Fall Festival has been transforming Main Street into a bustling community celebration, with food, art, a farmers market, games and more over the weekend leading up to Indigenous Peoples Day.

Throughout town hall, the craft tent on the town common and across the street outside at the congregational church, more than 50 vendors showcased their handmade pottery, jewelry, sketches, paintings, greeting cards, teas, trail mixes and more.

With a range of craft and content that included everything from hilltown highlights and portraits of scenes from the region to sketches of dog, cats, Gonzo the Muppet and even a band poster of the Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes, the infamous cantina band of the Star Wars universe, fall festival crafters had something for everyone.

In the upper level of town hall, woodworker Kurt Meyer sold his hand crafted wooden start ornaments, boxes chessboards and more, just like he has been doing for 25 years.

He joked that he only kept coming to the festival because he lives in Ashfield and he doesn’t want to miss the town’s biggest event, but said he enjoys getting to meet his neighbors and visitors to the town and to talk about his craft.

Epoxy artist Tony Restivo of Springfield has only come to the festival a few times, but said he had to come back because the people were nice and the town was quaint and charming.

While they have not been attending the festival nearly as long as Meyer has, some of the youth tasked with running the festival’s game booths agreed that meeting the people that come to the festival was one of the best parts.

At the strong arm game, 10-year-old Liam said everyone who comes to the festival is friendly, and he loves saying hi to everyone who passes his booth.

Liam’s game running partner, 6-year-old Beau, added that some of his favorite parts were listening to music and eating the food, but he also enjoyed watching people play the games.

Those gams are created and run by kids at the festival. This year the town’s youth put together a range of activities, including testing their strength at the strong arm game, duck fishing, cork gun shooting, face painting, firefighting 101, rope ladders and of course, the annual pumpkin games.

The kids created and built their games, set them up and spent the weekend running them and trying to pull in customers.

Liam’s go-to marketing tactic throughout the weekend was to shout at attendees walking by to “come play our game, we’re broke!”

The method was surprisingly effective and by Sunday around 11 a.m. his bucket was full of cash after a weekend of running his game at a price of $2 per swing.

In addition to games, attendees enjoyed live music and dancing.

The Wilder Kids took the stage Sunday morning, wowing audiences with their dancing skills.

Also throughout the weekend local bands including Hilltown Ham Hocks, The DiTrani Brothers, Ashfield Community Band, One Part Luck, Morris Dancers, and others took the stage to ensure there was never a dull moment at the festival.

The festival also included plenty of food options, like freshly baked pies, chowder, apple cider and donuts, maple cotton candy, and more.

Local farms also set up shop at the festival bringing samples of their jams and flowers.

Throughout the day vendors and attendees alike smiled as they described the event as the perfect fall festival. With pumpkins, hay bales, seasonally festive food and beverages, as well as games to play, art to buy, music to watch and neighbors to catch up with, the festival had plenty for attendees to see and do.

Just after 4:15 p.m. local band Barn Rocket took the stage and played to the end of the day, capping off the 54th edition of the popular event.

Reach Madison Schofield at 413-930-4579 or at mschofield@recorder.com