Fall may have officially begun exactly a month before, but Saturday in Cullman County felt a whole lot like the true start of the season, as major fall events welcomed throngs of people to Cullman County.

At Hanceville, the eighth Mud Creek Arts and Crafts Festival enjoyed what local city council member Sharon Porter said was likely the biggest installment event ever for the annual event.

“I can’t get over how much we’ve grown in just one year,” said Porter. “This is probably a record crowd.

“We ended up having 74 vendors, coming from as far away as 100 miles or more. The C Street Cafe sold out of food just after noon. We have a lot of new businesses that have opened downtown, just since last year, and that is huge for people to come into town and discover.”

Just up the road from the Mud Creek Festival, the Peinhardt Living History Farm was greeting visitors to its annual Farm Day, where knowledgable local volunteers helped recreate nearly every facet of early industrial farm life.

From wagon rides to smithing demonstrations to old-time children’s games to cow milking and more, Farm Day continues to offer hands-on contact with Cullman County’s agricultural past.

“This is the second year we’ve come,” said Samantha Gilbert, who brought her two daughters down from Madison.

“This time of year, we pretty much try to get in the car and go do something like this every weekend that we can. We found this last year, and after we came that first time, we knew it would have to become an annual thing.”

Capping off the long fall weekend is the Alabama Gourd Society’s annual gourd show, which continues through today at the Cullman Civic Center. Now in its 19th year, the gourd show features prize-winning works of art made from gourds, and offers a diversity of gourd-themed activities for both children and adults.

Tour the ribbon competition room to see entrants and winners of this year’s top statewide prizes, then sign up for an on-site class to learn how to take your first step toward creating a gourd-centric masterpiece of your own.

The gourd show runs today from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is $3 per adult; accompanied children 12 years and younger are admitted for free.