Thousands Pack into Castro for Spring Festival

Mountain View's downtown had a lot of visitors this weekend for the maybe more than before, event organizers and participants said.

"This is our 16th annual and it's exceeding our expectations," said Tim Beeman, with Miramar Events. Beeman attributed the foot traffic to the wonderful weather and since they moved the festival up from the third week of May, they competed less with other events, like Bay to Breakers.

"I don't have hard numbers but it's my sense that we had our best attendance ever. It raised money for the CBA and vendors involved, and achieved that at every level."

The Central Business Association of Mountain View presented the yearly festival as a fundraiser for two days this May 5th and 6th.

Some of the artisan vendors—who came from all over the Bay Area and even from out of state—also met or exceeded sales expectation, but they didn't attribute it to attendance.

"I usually do well with my stuff," said Jerry Limon, designer and founder of Estilo, an urban clothing designer based in Oakland. "Probably because I'm blessed and because I have good price points and something that people need and use daily."

He didn't necessarily blame the economy since across the board everyone was affected, but felt that attendance was lower. However, Limon felt his items sold because people "will gravitate toward things that speak to them."

For North Dakota couple, Ellen and Dan McErlane travel to this festival every year and said it's one of the top ten in California.

"It was awesome," Ellen said, who designs handmade glass and metal jewelry. "The promoter is very thorough, the set-up is easy—it ran like a Swiss click."

For the McErlane's the festival this year was successful.

"We sold a lot to people buying for Mother's Day," she said. "That made a huge difference for everyone."

Another custom jeweler, Melissa Huntsman from Livermore, has sold at the festival for 14 years. This year however, she got a better booth location near the middle of the festival, and felt that plus the weather and the upcoming Mother's Day contributed to her sales.

"I had quite a few customers buy Mother's Day and Grandmother's Day gifts," she said. "Weather helped. The weekend was perfect. I did about the same, howerver. I keep expecting it to be better because of economy but not for me."

Whichever the reason, people came out in droves. Darlene and Edward, who didn't give their name, came with their grand-daughter, who kept them busy in the childrens' fun zone. They spent less this year, Edward shared.

However, Mountain View dad Abraham Avila and his family did find things they liked.

"We did our shopping yesterday," said Abraham Avila, a Mountain View resident who attended with his wife and two children. "Everything was very nice."