A Hanceville fall tradition is set to make its return Saturday, with clear skies and perfect autumn weather setting the scene for an all-day outdoor event.

The Mud Creek Arts and Crafts Festival will take over the city’s historic downtown area all day Saturday, bringing artists, vendors, and food trucks to Hanceville for a pedestrian-friendly, closed-streets event that runs throughout the day.

Now in its 11th year, the festival is set to begin at 8 a.m. and last until 3 p.m. Mayor Kenneth Nail said that close to 50 vendors already have signed up to take part in this year’s festival, but there are a few remaining spaces still available. If you’d like to have a booth at the event on Saturday, contact Nolan Bradford at 256-249-5588 to get started.

The festival will close down Commercial Street and Bangor Avenue to vehicle traffic where the two streets intersect amid the old storefronts and shops downtown. The festival is free to attend, and free public parking is available on the periphery of the fenced-off festival area, including the large lot in front of the King’s Home Thrift Store just south of City Hall.

Also making a first festival appearance Saturday is a new pop-up shopping initiative involving local merchants and sponsored by the North Central Alabama Regional Council of Governments (NARCOG).

Hosted by the Decatur-Morgan Entrepreneurial Center, the Pop-up Shop Circuit event will run from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday, in partnership with the Hanceville Downtown Merchants Association, Nolan Bradford, and the Mud Creek Arts and Crafts Festival.

The pop-up event marks the second in the center’s Pop-up Shop Circuit, which aims to promote small businesses and tourism in Cullman and Morgan counties. The first pop-up shop event was held last month in downtown Falkville.