Barney Fife drops in during  South Boston's Annual Harvest Festival. Barney "Nip's it in the Bud" as he stops Charlotte Rice downtown Saturday Evening. (more)

South Boston couldn't have ordered a more perfect day than lthis past
Saturday to hold its annual Harvest Festival.  With temperatures in the
80's, crowds flocked to Downtown South Boston for the annual festival.
Beautiful fall weather, a large contingent of vendors, and an
ever-growing variety of entertainment drew a record crowd to the
festival. Crowds approached 17,000 during the day-long festival.
"Everything went well all day, the crowds were large, and we were very
pleased with the success of the event," said festival organizer Sara
Davis. "It was a steady crowd all day."
Musicians, balloon sculptors, craftsmen, and food vendors made the day
a big success as they lined the streets. Thousands of people — young,
old and in between — meandered down Main Street and soaked in the
atmosphere.
Youngsters hopped, skipped and jumped around on the kiddie games, while
others tried their hands at pumpkin painting and scarecrow making. 
Children also enjoyed the pony rides and the train.
"We found out that there are a lot of Mayberry fans in this area. 
Barney enjoyed signing autographs and taking pictures with the crowd. 
The crowd enjoyed Barney's antics as he strolled the streets of the
festival."
Some just ate — the hot dogs, hamburgers, crabcakes, funnel cakes and
ribbon fries that filled the air with the delicious odors from the
vendors along the street.
"Visitors to the festival commented on how there was a wider variety of
vendors this year," said Sara Davis, festival organizer.
Not only were the visitors happy with the events of the day, but the
vendors were quite pleased also.  "We had over 125 total vendors," said
Davis. Some vendors were so pleased with the festival they wanted to
know how to sign up for next year.
"The Wine Tasting was a successful first annual event, and we look
forward to it continuing and becoming bigger and better each year."
Crowds arrived earlier this year and stayed later and stayed steady all
day.
Everyone enjoyed the entertainment on all four stages — "All in all, we
had a great day in Downtown South Boston," said Davis.