PORTLAND — Samer Khudairi made his way to the sidelines, having seemingly reached his soccer quota for the day. 

Less than 10 minutes later, though, he was back on the field, subbing into the game he had just left.

It was that kind of day for many community members who attended Footy Fest, a pop-up event Sunday at Kennedy Park devoted to offering free soccer and organized by the Portland Hearts of Pine and Soccer Maine. 

Food trucks, music, giant inflatable darts and a dunk tank added to a lively scene on the fields just off Fox Street as players of all ages participated in pickup games prior to Kennedy Park Football Club semifinal and championship games, and viewing parties for the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. 

“People are just showing up and having a good time,” said Khudairi. “Teams are mixed. Some people are friends, some people are strangers, but we all get to know each other on the pitch, and it’s been really fun.”

Khudairi, 37, is a volunteer for Kennedy Park Pickup Soccer. 

He said he’s been helping out the organization almost every weekend this summer, getting his soccer fix while playing, reffing or just supporting. 

“You can see there’s some people, first-time comers, that are like, ‘oh, when can we do this?’” Khudairi said. “And I’m like, ‘this happens every weekend. Almost every night on the futsal courts.’”

Kirsten (who did not want her last name included), 45, isn’t a volunteer, but like Khudairi, ended up mixing into several pickup games.

“I just came to play and see what it was about and I was hoping I could play a little bit,” she said. “And I got lucky.” 

Kirsten spent time helping direct some of the younger kids she shared the field with, offering some informal coaching.

“It’s fun because I have a different mindset of how I used to play my game,” she said. “And I’m not a coach, but I try to share it with the people that I play with. I play pickup at Bowdoin on Sundays and I kind of do the same thing. I’m the mouth of the field and everyone thinks I’m a coach, and that’s fine.”

Portland Hearts of Pine players also made an appearance. Players walked around the fields, interacted with fans and spent time signing cleats, hats and other apparel. 

One of those players was midfielder Ollie Wright, who garnered USL League One Player of the Month honors in June. 

“I think before I came to Portland, I knew about the community and what soccer meant to the community, but I didn’t realize it was of this scale,” Wright said of Sunday’s event. “Obviously the Hearts of Pine games are great, loads of people come out, but to see this non-professional atmosphere and still this many people show up, it just shows what the sport means to the people here and it’s great to see.”

Wright, who is from London, said there were soccer tournaments back home in his youth that had a similar feel to Footy Fest. 

“That’s kind of what I love about it, is it reminds me of home,” Wright said. “It gives me that homey feeling and it kind of just brings me back to my childhood. It wasn’t quite of this scale. This is insane. But yeah, it’s so good to see kids of all ages, parents, family members, everyone out here enjoy the day.”