The two-day event, which was blessed with warm, sunny weather, had an upbeat atmosphere that centered on a Louisiana bayou theme. Throughout the weekend, the crowded downtown sizzled with the sound of music and the smell of food. Approximately 40,000 attendees enjoyed themselves, keeping many of the 150 booths constantly busy during the May17­18 weekend. Festival-goers boogied to the variety of musical beats provided on three stages along E. Campbell Avenue. And band members even strutted their stuff on the street in the Strutter's Parades.

"I thought it was a great event," says Francine Principe, redevelopment coordinator for the city of Campbell. "It had everything going for it, especially the weather. Mayor Dan Furtado and the business owners I talked with were quite pleased. It was a busy, successful event, and we saw no negative impact with the theme change from the PruneFestival to Boogie on the Bayou."

The PruneFestival, which had been the traditional festival in Campbell on the third weekend of May for the past 24 years, adopted a Cajun theme this year in large part because the Chamber of Commerce's key supporter, the California Prune Board, no longer wished to affiliate itself with the word prune. The association changed its name to the California Dried Plum Board and wanted the city to change the festival's name as well.

Instead of holding a Dried Plum Festival, the Chamber instead chose an entirely different theme for the annual event. The Chamber hoped the theme would draw a younger crowd while maintaining a family focus and would help boost the festival's popularity, which had been slowly dwindling over the last few years.

The great weather for this year's festival was an answered prayer for Campbell Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Betty Deal and her team of 300 community volunteers, who fell victim to heavy rains during the second day of last year's Prune Festival.

"It's been a huge success. There was a risk in changing the name and theme of the event, but we felt confident it would turn out well, and it has," Deal says. "Campbell was really strutting this weekend, both as individuals and as a community, and we look forward to doing more of the same in future years."

Festival co-chairs Lynn Olivarri-Schmidt of Killroy Pest Control and Pat Sullivan of the Campbell Kiwanis Club, faced a time crunch putting together the new event in just six months instead of the usual 12. In addition to the usual duties, it entailed developing new artwork and advertising and booking different bands.

"It looked like an awful lot of people were having a good time this weekend. A lot of people attending came up and said they hoped that we would do this again next year," says Sullivan. "We tried to appeal to people's sense of fun, and festival-goers of all ages enjoyed the variety of food, music and arts and crafts. It featured everything musically from zydeco to jazz to big band. The Zydeco Flames band was a big draw—we kept them onstage even longer than scheduled because people just loved them."

Many festival-goers could be seen walking up and down the streets wearing bright gold, purple and green strings of beads and colorful masks and carrying sugary treats served in purple and green flower-shaped plastic bowls.

In addition to the traditional vendors displaying candles, clothing and jewelry, there were numerous unique booths, from "Sock Savers"—painted socks with designated savings themes, such as for a new car, a vacation and a house—to a booth for the "Recall Gray Davis" campaign.

And as with all festivals, it was the food and beverage booths that were often most crowded. From Rock Bottom Brewery's Looziana Lager and Raccoon Red beers to Buca di Beppo's meatballs, Campbell's restaurants and bars were well-represented. New businesses that are still in the process of opening their doors, such as the clothing store Toast Shop and the smoothie shop Blendz, also were part of the event, introducing themselves to the crowds.

In at least one instance, demand outpaced supply, as Francine Principe found out the hard way, when she ordered bread pudding at 3 p.m. on Saturday, the first day of the festival. She was surprised to learn that the Cajun booth was sold out and that the owner would have to make more at home for Sunday.

Although the weekend drew a strong crowd, the real question for Campbell is whether the festival will have the desired long-reaching effect of bringing more people to shop and eat in Campbell on a regular basis.

"I thought Boogie on the Bayou drew a good crowd and featured wonderful music and some new crafts, plus the Strutter's Parade was lots of fun," says Mio Vicino Italian Restaurant owner Marsha Smith. "It's always interesting to see how restaurants will do with an event like this, when there are so many other food choices. It was a quieter year for us than in 2002. Last year's rain on Sunday was actually good for us as a restaurant because everyone came in to get out of the rain and eat. This year, we put out a table with a drawing to win a dinner for two, and 810 people stopped by and signed up, so that was fabulous. We also gave out coupons for a free glass of wine with dinner, so hopefully people will redeem those and we'll be able to track that they came here as a result of the festival. Some people said they never knew about us before, so it raised awareness. It featured free music, great food, color and charm—I think it did just what it was supposed to do."

A few other merchants, such as the Stone Griffin Gallery, did see an increase in business at the beginning of the week, which owner Dana Smith says is due to the festival.

For the organizers, the days offered a chance to finally relax and smile.

"I'm very proud of the fact that we succeeded in making it a true family event. For me, the highlight was participating in the Strutter's Parade—to see the joy on the children's faces when we passed out gold coins, masks and glasses was so rewarding. The happy feeling people had was just magical," says Olivarri-Schmidt.

After the success of this year, the organizers plan to keep the theme and expand on it even more next year.

"The community of people really pulled Boogie on the Bayou together to make it a success," says Sullivan. "Lynn and I found we needed to clone ourselves this year. We need an additional 300 more volunteers for next year, because it will be upon us again before we know it."