Flatts came alive on Saturday as thousands of people flocked to the second annual Flatts Village Festival.

Small children stood in line for the fun castle, to "drive the refuse truck'' and fish in the fish pond, while older kids opted for bags of monster sand.

There was face painting for the young, and fake tattoos for the not so young.

Beautifully hand crafted items were on sale as well as mouth watering home made delights on display. There was colour and pageantry wherever you looked from one end of the street to the other.

Festival organiser W.A. (Toppy) Cowen was delighted with the number of people who turned out to the afternoon's activities.

"We have a fabulous turn-out today, he said."I'm glad we were able to get so many people interested.'' Arthur Hodgson, Minister of the Environment gave an inspiring welcome speech, emphasising the need to preserve our past.

"We need to preserve the beauty of places like this village,'' he said.

"Although we are making progress, we shouldn't destroy what we have.'' But he lamented the state of Flatts Village today.

"Flatts Village has lost some of its character, it doesn't look as it did 30 years ago. Now we must look to new ways to recapture some of its quaint beauty.'' Among the other stalls and stands, were food stalls displaying roasted peanuts, cakes and fish chowder while vendors provided pizza, fried fish ice cream and other goodies.

Sidewalk chalk artists did their best to duplicate their favourite cartoon characters.

The seniors were given special boat tours around the village. Hamilton town crier Ed Christopher hosted a hilarious pie eating contest. Although there were only two contestants, five-year-old Dakarree won hands down.

Place's New Generation Gombeys rounded out the evening as they led the crowd back around to the car parks at Whitney Institute and Flatts Victoria Cricket Field.