Cloudy works just fine at festivals in Freeport, organizers of the 18th annual Freeport Fall Festival say. Rain, not so much.

FreeportUSA, which sponsors the festival, and the 129 vendors who worked it, were happy last Saturday that it was the former. Overcast it was, but the clouds produced little rain as hordes of people converged on the L.L. Bean campus and – in a festival first – Freeport Village Station across Main Street. The festival started at 10 a.m., and by 11, business was brisk.

“The good news is that people will not be out hiking and biking much,” said Laurie Gilman, events coordinator at L.L. Bean, who shared the FreeportUSA tent with Sue Granholm and Emily Marquis. “We’re anticipating very good business today.”

Said Marquis, community relations manager in charge of the Freeport Fall Festival for FreeportUSA, “Freeport gets busy when it’s cloudy.”

Vendors ranging from the innovative to tried-and-true favorites fared well.

Dulse & Rugosa of Gotts Island, near Acadia National Park, is on the innovative side. Proprietor Claire Weinberg sells products made from Maine seaweed and beach roses.Weinberg’s daughter, Carly Weinberg, has a cottage on the remote island, and wild harvests the plants that go into Dulse & Rugosa’s skin-care products.

“She is a licensed seaweed harvester,” Claire Weinberg said. “You can pick it for yourself for personal use, but as soon as you sell it, you have to be licensed.”

Dulse & Rugosa had a tent at the Freeport Fall Festival for the third year. Among the products the company makes from seaweed: shaving soap and dog shampoo.

“I was looking into seaweeds,” Weinberg said, “because I was looking for a natural solution for my chronic dry scalp, which I had since high school. “Seaweed has all your trace minerals and vitamins.”

K. Smith Handmade of York uses wool and cashmere sweaters to fashion new products. Owner Kate Smith said Saturday that she makes potholders, pillows, children’s toys, baby pants and more from the old sweaters.

“I love to re-use woolens,” she said. “I can give them new life.”

Dulse & Rugosa came a long way to Freeport from the Acadia area, but Frontier Maple Sugarworks Organic Small Batch of Jackman might have had the record for miles traveled – approximately 150. Frontier Maple also attracted customers early. They included friends Zenoyda Sanchez and Kathie St. Pierre of Peabody, Mass., and Selvia Craven of North Andover, Mass. The friends said they would not consider anything but maple syrup for their pancakes, and also use it in their oatmeal.

Loreli’s Loves & Treats, which featured fudge and other sweets, also drew a crowd. Lynne Wesh of New Jersey bought her granddaughter, Anna MacPhee of Palermo, a lemon cookie.

Crafters, as always, took up many of the festival tents. Jim Palana of Boston stopped to try out a guitar made by David’s Custom Woodworking of Clinton.

Nearly 30 vendors set up tents at Freeport Village Station for the first time in the festival’s history. One artist was right next to Johnny Rockets, which was ready for the extra business.

The festival, which continued on Sunday, takes advantage of the growing fall tourism season.

“The festival brings a lot of business,” said Brandi Withers, assistant manager at Johnny Rockets. “We’ve got extra cooks and extra waitresses. We plan on being crazy busy.”

Throughout the weekend, Freeport’s businesses benefit.

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

Sue Granholm, left, information manager for FreeportUSA, and Laurie Gilman, events coordinator at L.L. Bean, work the FreeportUSA tent with Emily Marquis last Saturday at the Freeport Fall Festival.

Claire Weinberg holds up one of the products that her daughter, Carly Weinberg, makes from seawood and roses at the Dulse & Rugosa tent last Saturday at the Freeport Fall Festival.

DeWayne Stallings of Cape Cod picks up small magnets he then purchased from K. Smith Handmade of York, which sells goods made from old woolen and cashmere sweaters.

Sweet treasure

Friends from Massachusetts, from left, Zenayda Sanchez, Selvia Craven and Kathie St. Pierre, were thrilled to purchase maple syrup from the Frontier Maple Sugarworks Organic Small Batch booth at the Freeport Fall Festival last Saturday. They were among the hundreds of visitors to the annual two-day autumn event sponsored by FreeportUSA. For a story and more photos, see page 8.

Anna MacPhee of Palermo gets a lemon cookie last Saturday from Lorelei’s Loves & Treats of Auburn, at the Freeport Fall Festival. Anna was with her grandmother, Lynne Wesh of New Jersey.

Tracy Tingley of Portland gives a  hula-hoop demonstration last Saturday at the Freeport Fall Festival, near Discovery Stage on the L.L. Bean campus. Tingley, who owns Hard Core Hoops, teaches the activity, and makes weighted hula-hoops.

People attending last Saturday’s Freeport Fall Festival line up in front of the L.L. Bean Home Store to purchase $10 tickets for the Freeport Community Services “Chowdah Challenge.” Money raised went to the FCS Food Pantry.