Yee-Haw!

Elk Grove's festival season got off to a rollicking start start Saturday, as thousands of visitors from around Sacramento County turned out to Elk Grove Regional Park to enjoy the balmy weather and get a little taste of the city's Wild West past at the 54th Annual Western Festival.

The air was punctuated with booms from a cannon and the smell of grilled oysters and churros, while festivalgoers took spins on carnival rides and line-danced in the grass near the main stage.

"We've been coming here since we were kids," said Amy Hibbard, 23, as she and her friend Kayla Fechter, 23, snacked on mountainous berry-smothered funnel cakes. "It's my mom's favorite holiday."

Strolling among the booths with her 4-year-old son, Keagan, Tambi Camacho said she was thrilled to be experiencing her first Western Fest after recently moving back to Elk Grove from Fresno.

"We like it so much better here," she said. "It's the community. It really feels like a family. There's so many activities for the kids to do."

Festival organizer Norm DeYoung said his team spread the tents out more evenly around the park this year to keep patrons from feeling boxed in by the crowds. It seemed to be working: Sales were up from last year, he said.

"This is the first of five festivals in Elk Grove, and it's the harbinger of summer," said DeYoung. "Plus, yesterday was payday, so people are geared up to come out."

He said he expected 15,000 to 20,000 people to have visited the festival by the end of the day, with Sunday even busier.

The crowds didn't seem to be deterred by rumors about a large fight that caused police to shut the park down early during the festival's traditional 'Carnival Night' Friday (also known locally as 'Suicide Night').

Joellen Hamming of Elk Grove said her teenage daughter came home shaken Friday after being separated from her younger sibling and almost nicked by a boy who rushed by her with a knife during the melee, which police said involved about 100 people.

But Officer Chris Trim, a spokesperson for the Elk Grove Police Department, said there were no injuries and only one arrest, for public intoxication.

"Contrary to what you may have heard, we did not receive any reports that someone was shot or stabbed," he said. He said police did call on Sacramento County sheriff's deputies for backup because of the large size of the crowd.

The 54th Annual Western Festival continues Sunday May 1 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Elk Grove Regional Park.