The 9th Annual Cloverdale Blueberry Festival was a hit, drawing in visitors from around the Lower Mainland.

Paul Orazietti, executive director of the Cloverdale Business Improvement Association, said the event is growing into a really inclusive community festival.

While attendance was down a bit this year - under 10,000 - the free annual one-day festival, held Saturday, drew car enthusiasts from well beyond Surrey.

People came out to see the many entries in the Surrey Show and Shine Car Gallery, which featured some race cars, as well as the antique tractor pull and freight trucks at the museum building on the fairgrounds.

The festival is held at a number of venues around Cloverdale, with many different kinds of events, such as the popular pieeating contest, amusement rides, art festival, farmers' market, live entertainment and trolley rides.

"That's the beauty of the event - there's literally something for everyone."

The unifying theme is heritage, said Orazietti.

For example, the City of Surrey's museum division had people dressed in period costumes doing historical reenactments for visitors.

"It's amazing in terms of richness, in terms of telling the story," he said.

And because local history only stretches back a couple of hundred years, he said, it really is necessary to tell the story to explain the area's roots and development.

While the scorching temperatures on Saturday may have kept away some visitors, another concern for organizers is the actual date.

"It's starting to grow into almost a city-sized festival," Orazietti said, adding that organizers are considering if it makes sense to move the date back a week to avoid competing with other local events, such as the Spirit of the Sea Festival in White Rock.

"It has a life of its own."

ccooke@thenownewspaper.com