Sunny skies and a cool breeze greeted early shoppers and vendors Saturday as the second and final day of Riverfest 2011 kicked off downtown.

“Today would be a good day to be in the kite business,” joked Brian Madden, owner of Reclaimed Frames, who was sharing a booth at the Vicksburg-Warren County Riverfest Arts & Crafts Show on Walnut Street with photographer Scott Hall.

Temperatures barely made it above 70 Saturday after storms Friday ushered in cool, dry weather for the 24th Riverfest, Vicksburg’s annual spring festival.

Madden, of Pearl, recycles old wooden pieces into frames. He joined other vendors who made the trip to Vicksburg for the annual arts and crafts show, in its 43rd year.

A few blocks away, at the Old Court House Spring Flea Market, museum curator Bubba Bolm said 50 vendors had rented space for the event, the first the Old Court House has held during Riverfest in nearly a decade. The Cherry Street facility hosts a market in the fall.

“It’s a good source of money to benefit the museum,” Bolm said of the decision to resume the spring market. “Next year we’ll have double the vendors, I’m sure.”

Katie Ferrell, organizer of the Riverfest Arts & Crafts Show for three years, said Saturday’s wind didn’t deter shoppers. “We’ve had a lot of Vicksburg folks coming out this morning and more arriving as we speak.”

In the past, Ferrell said, Riverfest’s daytime attractions — arts and crafts, the Bluz Cruz canoe and kayak race from the Madison Parish Port to Vicksburg, kids’ activities and sidewalk sales on Washington Street, the flea market at the Old Court House and Alcorn State University’s Jazz Festival at the convention center — plus Friday and Saturday evening entertainment can lure as many as 10,000 people. This year’s festival also featured a new event, a tennis tournament at Halls Ferry Park.

“We had a lot of foot traffic downtown,” Riverfest president Katrina Shirley said as Saturday night’s acts were getting underway. A crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 was expected for the evening, she added.

Shirley said Friday that a record 500 pre-sale tickets had been bought for Riverfest’s opening night.

The morning’s wind, coupled with near-flood conditions on the Mississippi River, created a little extra excitement for the Bluz Cruz, said Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace.

Around mid-morning, Pace and his deputies rescued five people and three kayaks, one of which had capsized. The sheriff’s department had two patrol boats in the water during the four-hour event, along with a U.S. Coast Guard boat from Memphis.

No one was injured, Pace said. “It does emphasize the hazards, though, of navigating the Mississippi River, especially in the spring when the water is at the level it is right now.”

The river at Vicksburg Saturday was at 36.4 feet, up from 36.3 Friday. Flood stage is 43 feet. The river here crested at 43.3 feet on March 31. Wind gusts Saturday morning reached 24 miles per hour.

Those on land simply enjoyed the day.

Little Rock resident Alice Reed said she’s been bringing her Simple Sassy Suppers booth to Vicksburg events for several years.

“We love Vicksburg,” Reed said between sales and passing out samples from her arts and crafts show booth on Crawford Street.

Ferrell said 100 vendors from across the Southeast had purchased booth space. Fees range from $90 to $125.

“I’m real proud of it,” Ferrell said. “We have some great vendors, and a lot of them are staying all weekend, talking about where they had dinner last night and other places they’ve been. It makes me excited for Vicksburg.”

At the Old Court House, Vicksburg residents Patti and Harry Craft said they’ve been coming to the flea markets for 40 years.

“It gives you a chance to see people that you haven’t seen for a while,” Patti Craft said after greeting and giving vendor Baron Kleinhans a big hug.

Kleinhans and his wife, Apryle, were selling old china, pictures and other household items, and nearby, their daughter Amanda, 20, was selling T-shirts to benefit her project, Hope is Real, which aims to raise awareness of teenage depression and suicide.

Nearby, 3-year-old Kaelynn Williams was pleased with the sand-art creation her mother, Ashley Peay, purchased from Jackson vendor Rachel Allred. Other kids carried balloons given to them by campaigning local political candidates, munched on funnel cakes and muffins sold by food vendors, or huddled under blankets in strollers while their parents browsed.