The third weekend in October is like Christmas for shop and restaurant owners in Baldwin.

“It’s just a rush, and it starts when you walk in the door,” said Trina Schartz, co-owner of Espress Yourself, a coffee shop.

This weekend marks the 48th Annual Maple Leaf Festival in Baldwin. Folks from miles around will flock to the rural Douglas County community in search of arts and crafts, music and kettle corn.

“There’s a lot of tradition involved with the festival,” said Nancy Crisp, chairwoman of the Maple Leaf Festival. “The people who started this 48 years ago had an idea of celebrating the community, like a lot of small towns. This is a celebration of the history and the community of Baldwin, and we really try to bring out those themes.”

• Past stories about the Maple Leaf Festival
• Past photo galleries from this story
• Coverage from the Baldwin City Signal
• 6News coverage of the 2004 Maple Leaf Festival
• 6News coverage of the 2003 Maple Leaf Festival
• Official Maple Leaf Festival 2005

Last year, about 30,000 people attended the two-day festival in Baldwin, which has a population of about 3,400. Events actually kick off Friday evening with a carnival, tennis tournament and a performance of “The Ballad of Black Jack.”

“We’ll be ready for it,” Schartz said. “I’m really interested to see how we do this weekend.”

Preparations for this year’s festival began not long after last year’s ended. But in the past week, a gigantic orange banner reading “Maple Leaf Festival” was hung over the town’s main downtown intersection at Eighth and High streets. Large trash cans have been strategically placed throughout the town and “no parking” signs have been posted along some streets in the quiet community.

The festival will include about 300 arts and crafts booths; the oldest quilt show in Kansas; and live country, bluegrass and alternative music.

Schartz organized the live alternative music tent, which is in its third year at the Maple Leaf Festival. Bands playing acoustic sets and folk rock will take center stage.

“We had the country music tent, but we had a demand for other types of music,” Schartz said. “Having it actually happen has been great. I’m really excited about the bands we were able to line up.”