East Lyme — Those wending their way down Main Street on Saturday had some difficult decisions to make. A trip to Scotland or Hawaiian shave ice? Beef fat fries or cotton candy? Face paint or a feather for the hair?

Those were just a handful of the choices at the 15th annual Celebrate East Lyme.

Ronnie DiNoto of East Lyme was making his way through the celebration with his girlfriend, Amy, and daughters Adelina, 4, and Adrianna, 2. DiNoto is a regular attendee of the annual event.

"It's nice," he said while waiting for Adelina to get a bright pink feather tied into her locks. "I like it better than Sailfest. It's more close knit."

With each 100 feet, a waft of some new food item greeted celebration goers.

With sticky hands from trying a bag of kettle corn, Bethanne Donovan of Niantic was experiencing — for once — being an attendee at the celebration. Usually she helps out her sister, who has a booth that sells handmade hats and various trinkets. She said her sister's booth would be back next year.

Michelle Carrara, owner of Survival Solutions, and her partner, Melissa Victor, had a booth for their business, which teaches CPR and first aid. They had a booth at the festival for the first time last year, which Carrara said was a good way to "drum up business."

As Carrara spoke, a young boy came over to the booth and began poking an infant mannequin. Victor stepped in and told the boy, "two fingers," while trying to teach him how to administer CPR to the mannequin. Meanwhile a mother with a baby stroller approached the booth and put her name on their mailing list.

Instructors and students from the Arthur Murray Dance Studio made their way around a wooden floor set up in front of the studio. Camilla Cazagrande, manager of the studio, said "it gives us the opportunity to show the other people in town what we're about." 

Patriotic music streamed from the American Legion Post 128 booth, which was manned by post Commander Bob Simpson and Steven Carter, who served as commander before Simpson.

"I said let's come down, just set up some music ... and people can come over and ask questions about the American Legion," Carter said.

Next to their booth, he and Simpson had a set up table with a place setting for one in honor of those "who are no longer with us," they said.

Attendees also had the opportunity to dunk First Selectman Mark Nickerson at the dunk tank.

"It's building slowly but it's always shoulder to shoulder by the end," Nickerson said of attendance.

"There's such a positive vibe going on right now in East Lyme, just some positive spirit," he said, noting new restaurants on Main Street and recently completed beautification projects.

"We've arrived."

j.bergman@theday.com

Twitter: @JuliaSBergman