Photo by Deb Gau A member of the Marshall Fire Department tosses an armload of candy to a waiting crowd of children during the Candy Drop on Thursday afternoon.

MARSHALL — It was a good day to be outside – and a lot of people headed to Marshall’s Main Street Thursday to enjoy it. In the morning, crowds of people were checking out Crazy Days vendors and deals, while waiting to see the Kiddie Parade.

“I think people were just longing to get out today, and enjoy the weather,” said Lori Schoer, one of the vendors with booths set up on Main Street. Sunshine and mild temperatures didn’t seem to hurt the turnout at Crazy Days.

“I feel like this year, we had more people right away in the morning,” said Mavi Valentin, events coordinator for the Marshall Area Chamber of Commerce. Factors like construction zones blocking off part of College Drive and the BNSF railroad crossing on West Main Street also didn’t seem to keep people from attending the event.

Valentin said event organizers worked to let people know about the construction ahead of time.

“We put out a lot of communication, and a lot of information about parking,” she said.

Around 40 local businesses took part in Crazy Days, plus roughly 45 additional vendors and food trucks set up along Main Street, Valentin said. As in past years, the event also featured activities like the Kiddie Parade and a candy drop. A big crowd of kids bunched together to try and catch candies tossed from the bucket of a Marshall Fire truck.

Some area businesses said they had seen steady traffic on Thursday morning. By midday, vendor and Minneota resident Kelly Myhre was rearranging her display of flowers and houseplants to help fill gaps left by sales.

“We sold all our bouquets,” Myhre said. “It’s been pretty steady.”

Myhre said she’s been going to events like farmers markets for a couple of years.

“I just really like flowers, and I thought, I’ll try growing them,” she said. Eventually, she and her family fixed up a trailer to help take her business on the road. “Each year, it’s been building.”

Marshall businesses were also getting into Crazy Days. In front of Karl’s TV and Appliance, employees were demonstrating grills by serving up samples of meat.

“It’s actually been pretty good. I’ve been talking to everyone that comes past,” said Karl’s employee David Harden.

As “grill master,” Harden said he was busy cooking pork loin starting around 6 a.m. Thursday. So far, the response from people was positive, he said.

The experience of Crazy Days was a fun one, the crew from Karl’s said.

“It’s a day at work, but it’s not a day at work,” Harden said.