Photo by Deb Gau Tom Melville demonstrates some of the basics of the game of cricket for visitors at the Arts and Living History Festival in Marshall on Saturday. Melville bowled while festival-goers took turns as batters.

MARSHALL — The group of people gathered in the grass at Liberty Park on Saturday weren’t just learning about the sport of cricket — they were trying it out. Once Tom Melville filled them in on some of the basics, it was time to grab a bat and practice.

Melville picked up a ball and bowled it underhand toward batters like Spencer Brink, who tried to hit the ball and keep it away from the wicket behind him.

“How do you keep points? How do you score?” one person asked.

Melville said scoring in cricket was a little bit like baseball, “But instead of running around in a circle, you run back and forth.” The batter needed to run over a line at the opposite end of the cricket pitch.

The cricket lessons were just one of the activities people could check out at the Arts and Living History Festival on Saturday. The event, organized by the Lyon County Museum and Visit Marshall, got its start at last year’s 150th anniversary celebration for the city of Marshall. The living history activities gave visitors a chance to learn more about life at the time Marshall was founded.

This year’s festival also included food and arts and crafts vendors, as well as community art activities visitors could join in.

“It’s was pretty steady all day,” Lyon County Museum Director Jennifer Andries said of festival attendance.

“I think it’s something that will grow as we do it more, and get more vendors,” she said.

Melville was one of the demonstrators at this year’s festival. A Milwaukee area resident, Melville said he learned cricket as a graduate student in the UK.

Cricket was historically played in the U.S. until baseball became more popular, Melville said. Some cricket players — including the founders of the Cincinnati Reds — switched to playing baseball.

“It really dovetails between the two games,” he said.

The event also had hands-on opportunities for people to try historical crafts like rope-making, or join in with making community art. Under the park gazebo, visitors could add to the “Yellow Flowers” collaborative art project with SammyJo Miller.

“People can come out and paint one or two flowers on the canvas,” Miller explained. Once the flowers were painted, Miller would go back and add illustration lines to complete the art.

Miller said she chose yellow flowers for the project, because the colors of yellow and green don’t get muddy-looking together, even if you mix them.

There had been a pretty steady stream of people who had come out to join in the painting. Miller said the completed gallery of yellow flowers would be displayed online at her website, as well as at the Lyon County Museum.