LIVERMORE FALLS – A slew of activities, fine weather and food – lots of it – attracted a crowd estimated at more than 3,000 people to Saturday’s five-hour Apple Pumpkin Festival.

Held this year on the Livermore Falls recreation field, the annual event is the largest fundraiser for the Jay, Livermore, and Livermore Falls Chamber of Commerce, according to chamber Administrative Assistant Bonnie Perkins.

“It’s an opportunity to really give something back to the community,” she said.

It was also a huge hit, once again, with families, judging from the many adults pushing baby strollers and carriages across the grassy field from vendor to vendor and activity to activity.

“To look around and see people really enjoying themselves, it’s really gratifying,” festival co-Chairwoman Erin Nelson said. “We’ve got a very, very good variety of things. There’s no shortage of things to do or see. We tried to get more children’s activities and food vendors to have more of a balance between crafters. It’s pretty cool to see all these people down here. Last year we had 3,000 people.”

They were on pace to surpass that number 1 hours into the event when well over 1,000 people strolled in, taking advantage of a perfect autumn day, Perkins said.

“It seems like every year it rains, but the weather was with us this year,” Lisa White of Farmington said.

She and several others from Franklin County district and superior courts ran the Fighting Hearts Relay-for-Life Team booth, selling sno-cones and pumpkins to raise money for the American Cancer Society. They also hosted a popular pumpkin beanbag toss and pumpkin painting activities.

“This is a really family-oriented and nice community activity. Today, there is a lot of good pictures, happy faces and people having a good time,” White said.

New this year and a big hit with children were pony rides by Beal’s Little Acres of Saco, and Climbing Adventures’ large inflatable obstacle course, “Rat Race,” which was erected beside their giant Sabretooth Tiger Slide.

“Kids love anything they can bounce on. Of course, we’ve also got monster trucks and fire trucks and live music,” White added.

Other activities included a Pink Panther mascot that joined other costumed characters, the Ludwell Mud Run truck, and Northern Forest Center’s rolling museum, “Ways of the Woods.”

“We’re here for the bounce houses and the food,” Ashley Towle of Livermore Falls said while watching her 2-year-old daughter, Mackenzie Curtis, paint a pumpkin. “I’ve been coming here for years, ever since I can remember. It’s a lot better than last year and a much better location. The kids are having more fun.”

Last year’s event was held near the downtown’s gazebo area and town common.

In addition to an operating-under-the-influence simulator course run by Androscoggin County sheriff’s officers, other big educational draws were baby animals from Fare Share Farms of Canton and Roy Cronkhite’s observation hive of nearly 2,000 Carniolan honey bees. But, judging by the lines of excited children, nothing other than the large variety of food seemed to beat the prehistoric tiger slide and Rat Race.

“This is our first time coming here,” former Lewiston-Auburn resident Debbie Marquis, now of Jay, said of she and her daughter, Haylee Duval, 10. Marquis also brought along her 2-year-old granddaughter, Cami Smith of Auburn.

“They had a lot of free stuff for kids to do and I got to meet some of Haylee’s friends, and it gave me something to do with my granddaughter,” Marquis added.