The streets of Niles were filled with all things apple this weekend, as the Four Flags Area Apple Festival celebrated 45 years of enchantment.

A steady hum of laughter and gleeful screams served as the soundtrack to three and a half days filled with contests, games, crafts and carnival rides. The crisp scent of cinnamon and deep fried fare wafted through the fairgrounds, tantalizing the taste buds of thousands of Michiana residents throughout the weekend.

“With the weather cooperating the way it has, it looks like a record year,” said Pat Teeter, secretary of the board of directors for the Four Flags Area Apple Festival.

By 11 a.m. Saturday, blankets, camping chairs and even wooden benches were propped alongside city streets as people from all over Michiana prepared to watch the Grande Parade. The mid-60-degree weather offered a comfortable climate for little ones to collect candy and clap for 103 floats, featuring marching bands, public safety officials, school groups, businesses, pageant queens, nonprofit organizations and politicians.

In the hours preceding and following the parade, downtown business owners were pleased to see storefronts stuffed with people, many of which rarely — if ever — visit downtown, said Paris Soda Co. owner Jim Morris.

“[Business] boomed Saturday,” Morris said. “I opened early and served breakfast, and we were constantly busy from then until about 5 o’clock.”

Paris Soda Co. earned second place in the annual window decorating contest Thursday, designed to get downtown business owners in the Apple Festival spirit.

Morris’ mother, Linda Seyfried, decked out Paris’ storefront to resemble a mini-carnival. Small toys depicted a shrunken version of the Apple Festival. Nearby, a chocolate fountain spouted apple cider, and a popcorn popper filled with the same buttery goodness one may buy at the festival.

Pizza Transit owner Sarah Brittin shared Morris’ sentiments.

“We are always very busy Apple Festival weekend, and it brings in a great crowd of happy families, so it’s a lot of fun for all of us to be a part of their festival experience,” Brittin said. “The parade goes right past Pizza Transit, so we get a lot of people coming in from that, and I have heard the same from our neighbors, too. It’s a great way for people [who]might not come downtown to see how much Main Street is thriving right now.”

Pizza Transit embraced this year’s festival theme to win first place in the window contest.

“As soon as I heard that the theme was 45 Enchanted Years, I was excited,” Brittin said. “I love medieval themes in general, so it was fun to get a reason to dress up in my suit of armor and dragon skull. My favorite part is our spin on the [“Sword in the Stone’], but I used pizza boxes for the stone and ran a sword through them.”

Back on the festival fairgrounds, folks enjoyed all sorts of fair food while watching live entertainment, shopping at the craft fair hosted by Psi Iota Xi and supporting local nonprofit groups in the apple tent.

Thousands of dollars in prizes and scholarships were awarded throughout the festival and the weeks preceding the event, as people participated in a wide array of contests. The Apple Festival court of honor, crowned two weeks before the festival, served as emcees to many of the contests, which included a best beard and mustache, horse shoes, a lip sync contest, a baked goods competition, a log-sawing contest, and many others.

On Friday and Saturday night, the Apple Festival celebrated its milestone anniversary with fireworks hovering over the fairgrounds, an enchanting backdrop glittering behind the neon lights Ferris wheels and food booths.

“We’re glad for the people who came out to the Apple Festival, and we’ll begin planning next year’s festivities next week,” Teeter said.