ARLINGTON — The 23rd annual Arlington Street Fair drew hundreds of vendors and thousands of visitors to downtown Arlington from Friday, July 12, to Sunday, July 14.

Olympic Avenue was blocked off to traffic as booths set up to offer a variety of products, food and services, from hand-made dish towels to local snowboarding gear, kettle corn and everything in between.

“This is my first year here and this is great,” said Sandra Billings of Marysville. “My husband wanted to go to the Fly-In, and we came downtown for lunch and saw all the booths. So now he’s at the Fly-in and I’m shopping.”

The Arlington Fly-In was held at the Arlington Municipal Airport concurrently with the Street Fair and the city provided shuttle service from the fair to the airport.

In addition to browsing vendors and their hand-crafted wares, fair attendees had the opportunity to perform in the annual “Arlington Idol” singing contest. The Arlington Farmers Market was set up nearby on Saturday, July 13, so attendees could visit the fair and buy locally grown produce.

Bothell residents Kory and Chris Rigler visited the fair for the first time after hearing about it from friends and were impressed by the variety of products available.

“It’s big, a lot bigger than we expected,” said Kory Rigler. “There are so many different booths with different items.”

The Rigler family purchased some gems and rocks from one of the vendors while their kids held balloons and treats from another.

“I think we’ll definitely be back in the years to come,” said Chris Rigler.

For more information on the Street Fair or upcoming Arlington events visit www.arlingtonwa.org.