People of all ages and from all areas flocked to Emmaus Sept. 8 for a Farewell Summer Festival.

Sponsored by the Emmaus Main Street Partners Retail Committee, First Niagara Bank, PenTeleData and The Press, the event featured a number of fun activities. They included face painting, balloon animals, carnival games, "pet rock" making, a dog walk, different eating contests and the personal favorite of all children in attendance cupcake decorating.

Children were each given a vanilla cupcake they could decorate with icing, different candies, sprinkles and even cereal and were able to keep their creations.

"My family came to this festival last year," Tori Simmons, an Emmaus resident, said. "My five-year-old daughter remembered there were cupcakes that you could decorate, and she loved it and wanted to come back for that."

The children's activities and games on the Triangle were sponsored by Active Learning Center.

Most of the volunteers in the children's area were parents or relatives of children in the Lehigh Valley Martial Arts program, including Alisa Bowman, an Emmaus resident, who was helping at the cupcake tent.

"I've only been helping out at the festival for the past few years, but it's a great event and the kids all love it," Bowman said.

The festival also included a disc jockey, "D" Freeman of Sonlight Productions, and a variety of live musicians, including Frank Porter. Porter just released his new album "Who I Am."

A pet parade and costume contest was held at Buss Paint & Wallpaper sponsored by One Stop Pet Shop.

An apple pie contest was held 11 a.m. at the Clock Building with judges Mayor Winfield Iobst, EMSP President Rick Zayaitz and Press Editor Debbie Galbraith. The winner of the contest was Kelly James.

Three groups participated in the barbecue rib cook-off held at Wentz Hardware. Josh Swiney and Chris Mory, both of Emmaus, entered "Peachy Keen Ribs," Nico and Mick Anderson, both of Allentown, and Brian Drozda, of Alburtis, entered "Smokin' Pig BBQ," and Adam Neidig, of Pittsburgh, Martin B. Harthcock III, of Wescosville, and Michael J. Horvath, of Orefield, entered "Duck Ribs." The winning ribs were "Duck Ribs."

The winner of the banana split eating contest, held at Creamery on Main was Steve Hillegess.

Traub's Doggies was the site for the hot dog eating contest with Andy Johns "Darth Wiener" winning by eating five hot dogs in three minutes.

Hoping to take advantage of the large crowds, many of the local shops set up tables on the sidewalk displaying some of their wares.

Ronald McDonald attended the celebration, walking around performing little tricks for the children.

Local organizations also had tables and tents set up, including the Emmaus Lioness Club. The head chairwoman, Saundra Link, said they raised about $1,600 the past year in fundraising, and donated it all. They gave some to blind organizations, deaf organizations, Emmaus High School fitness, scholarships and community projects. This fall, they are sponsoring another event they call Chase the Chill, where members will be making scarves and placing them around Emmaus for anyone to pick up, for free, and give to someone in need.

Later on in the festival, Lehigh Valley Martial Arts gave a demonstration for the crowd. Students of all ages showed off their skills. It included hand-to-hand combat, synchronized fighting and even fighting with weapons.

The weapons included nunchuks, swords and even Oriental fans. Once the demonstration was completed, instructors invited anyone who was interested to participate in a quick marital arts lesson.

The concert by The Large Flowerheads was unfortunately canceled due to the storm warnings and the band was gracious in understanding the need for the cancelation of the concert. EMSP is hoping to schedule the band for another concert in the near future.

Overall, the festival was a fun way to both end the summer and start off the fall season.

Editor's Note: Joanna Hawkins is a junior at Emmaus High School. She wrote this article as part of a graduation project for the school. She is on the field hockey team and girls lacrosse team at Emmaus. She enjoys writing in her spare time.