Freeport is gearing up this year for the swift 1-2 punch of the fall foliage-season invasion.

Right on the heels of the 18^th Freeport Fall Festival, Oct. 1-2, is Columbus Day weekend, which will bring even more tour buses into town Oct. 8-10.

And after that, it’s Christmas: there’s the Early Bird Shopping event on Nov. 5,  Sparkle Weekend Dec. 2-4 and L.L. Bean’s month-long Northern Lights events.

But first, autumn.

Kelly Edwards, executive director of FreeportUSA, said that attendance of the two-day Freeport Fall Festival, which her organization sponsors, has grown to more than 35,000 in recent years. Large as it is, the L.L. Bean campus couldn’t hold all the demand for space.

“Attendance has skyrocketed, and so has the demand for vendor space,” Edwards said. “We’re expanding to Freeport Village Plaza with 30 artists and crafters there, as well as children’s activities. With the increased attendance, it’s our hope that we will be able to set up vendors in other areas of town. Seven years ago, there might have been 50 vendors at the festival. Now, we have 130. We like to see a number of our member businesses on the L.L. Bean campus, like Brahms Mount and R.D. Allen Freeport Jewelers.”

Many visitors to the big Freeport festival have a variety of modes of transportation available. The Amtrak Downeaster offers passenger train service from Boston to Brunswick, and leaf-peeping on the Maine coast is a big lure to out-of-staters. The new MetroBreez express passenger bus service from Portland to Freeport and back, which began last spring, is an option for people from not that far away to attend the Freeport Fall Festival. The fare is just $3 and half that for seniors, and MetroBreez offers 10 northbound trips to Freeport during the week, five on Saturday. There’s a good chance those five buses will be full on Oct. 1.

“I’m putting the fall festival up on our Facebook Page and website,” said Denise Beck, director of marketing for Portland Metro, which runs the Breez. “I think it’s a great opportunity for people to get to downtown Freeport and check it out. I told my husband this morning I am going. I will certainly do my best to make people aware of it.”

Vendors will be selling all sorts of their wares, from jewelry to art to crafts to food. Children’s events will be all around.

Food certainly is the central theme for one of the few Freeport Fall Festival events that is not free – it’s $10 to sample the chowders entered in the annual “Chowdah Challenge,” but it’s a fundraiser for Freeport Community Services, the social service agency that serves Freeport and Pownal. The Chowdah Challenge takes place from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday on the deck of the L.L. Bean Home Store.

Big crowds of people will line up to sample and vote for Freeport’s best chowder. Ten restaurants donate their traditional and gourmet clam and seafood chowders . The restaurants also compete for two awards: The People’s Choice Award and the Judges’ Award for Best Chowdah.

Already signed up for the Chowdah Challenge this year are Freeport Chowder House, Gritty McDuff’s, Coast Bar + Bistro of Brunswick, the Harraseeket Inn, Linda Bean’s, Kamasouptra and Tuscan Brick Oven Bistro.

Edwards said that the Chowdah Challenge is one of her favorite festival events. She also enjoys the Lunch for Learning fundraiser on Sunday, set for 11 a.m.-2 p.m., also at the Bean Home Store. The Freeport-Pownal-Durham Education Foundation sells pizza, water and dessert for $7, and puts the money toward projects and grant support.

The Midcoast School of Music kicks off each day’s musical lineup on Discovery Stage, from 11 a.m.-noon.

On both days from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., a Bubble Tent for children will be set up at Discovery Park, and hula hoops by Hardcore Hoops will be in booth No. 69, also for the fun of the kids.

Throughout the weekend, Freeport’s businesses benefit.

“It’s really nice to see what this event does for local hotels, restaurants and shops,” Edwards said. “L.L. Bean told us last year that it’s one of their best sales weekends of the year.”

As for the fall sales season, Ann-Marie Connor, owner of New Beginnings Consignment Boutique at 27 Bow St., said that’s when a different, more affluent demographic visits Freeport.

“The value of our sales goes up,” Connor said. “You don’t see many strollers anymore. It’s adults. They come in when the fall tour buses come in. They really want to enjoy the food and the shopping and the festivals. There’s no doubt about it, an exciting demographic comes in during the fall.”

Artists will be all around at the Freeport Fall Festival on Oct. 1-2.

The Freeport Fall Festival, scheduled for Oct. 1-2, marks the beginning of the fall tourism season in the area.