Scattered showers may have kept some people away from this year's John Blue Cotton Festival, but it did little to dampen the spirit of attendees.

"We thought that it went well despite the fact that the weather was looming," Festival Chairman Rebecca Blue said. "The weather was a big factor, so naturally our attendance was reduced."

She estimated just under 12,000 people attended the 26th annual event.

A number of military families were down from Raeford, part of the first wave of BRAC, trying to find local events for their children.

People from as far away as Virginia drove to the festival. One family came from California to visit local relatives and stopped by the annual cotton event.

People from all over the Pee Dee River Valley in South Carolina and the Cape Fear Region of North Carolina attended.

Thomas Johnson came up from Bennettsville, S.C., with his twin 9-year old girls Meagan and Noel.

"We've had a really good time today... They enjoyed riding the horses and I enjoyed watching them."

While some came for their families, Carroll Lewis enjoyed some local sentiment. A native of Laurinburg who recently moved back to Laurel Hill, she says the festival reminds her of her upbringing.

"[My favorite part is] the mules, because my I grew up with my grandfather plowing with a mule in the 70s, which don't seem like that long ago."

Mary LeVan says she's come to the festival every year she's been in the area. She moved to Maxton three years ago from Florida.

"I'm here for the fun, the food, the music and mostly for my kids. I like taking the kids on the train ride and the pony rides. And the food."

She says her kids also enjoy the music and the various games.

Families weren't the only people who frequented the festival. Many volunteers were also out and about at the annual event. John F. Stewart, a member of the festival committee, was at his usual post – milling corn.

"This is a grits mill. It grinds grits and also corn meal. We get the corn from Mr. William Carmichael and we grind the corn up and we sell it for $2 a bag and all of the proceeds go back to the John Blue Cotton Festival."

Stewart says he's no stranger to milling.

"I've been doing it for the last 12 years now."

Blue said she was pleased with the event.

"We thought the Alpacas were the most precious thing, and many others agreed."

She said people kept visiting the wooly animals that are smaller cousins to the llama.

"We had planned to have three parades, two on Saturday and one on Sunday. The weather made it impossible for the antique cars to come in."

She said the antique cars were based out of Fayetteville, which had a lot of rain Saturday morning. While skies were gray and black over festival-goers, rain didn't start locally until well into the afternoon – after the parade would have been over.

She also said a magician wondered through the crowd performing tricks, a first for the local event.

Among the highlights she mentioned was a face painter from Burlington – William Gattis.

"He was very talented. Every time you went by his booth, he had a line of people waiting for him. You never saw him sitting there, looking at the crowd."

Gattis says he is a newfound friend of the cotton festival.

"I've loved the event. [Saturday], we started at 11 o'clock and didn't end until 5:30. It was nonstop, and I had lines from that point on. We did everything from Spiderman to Iron Man, weird creatures, you name it, we did it. When I got back to my hotel room, I tallied it up and I did 79 kids [Saturday]."

He was so busy on Saturday that he didn't get to visit the other booths. After smelling the surrounding soul food, he vowed that by the end of Sunday, he would try the collard sandwich.

"I heard talk of the collard sandwich. Now, being a city boy, when I pictured it, you took collards and put it on two pieces of bread and I can imagine its all soggy from the collards and stuff, but that's not really how it is. Now that's all I smelled [Saturday] and believe me, before I leave today (Sunday), I am going to eat a collard sandwich."

Gattis says he found out about the cotton festival through another annual local event.

"I did a festival in Wagram about a month ago and met Jim and Rebecca Blue and they invited me to the John Blue Cotton Festival."

"I am an artist by trade. I went to Virginia State University and I have a son who is 16. He came home from a birthday party [with his face painted] when he was about 6 years old and he said 'Dad, can you do better than this?'"

He said his son became a model for him as he initially learned the trade.

While he's seen as a talented artist, he hasn't quit his day job – he is a center director for Burlington Parks and Recreation.