With the exception of a light breeze deemed too risky for launching the hot air balloons, the first annual Springfest went off without a hitch.

There is no official count, but town officials estimate 5,000 to 7,000 people dropped in on Springfest Saturday, which lasted from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

"Every time I looked at White Street, there was always a line of cars jam packed all day," Parks and Recreation Director Brown Simpson said.

Despite slow-moving traffic, Simpson said, there were no parking problems reported from the music and food-oriented festival held at Walter Elisha Park. Fort Mill Police were able to keep traffic moving and get people across busy streets without any major problems.

There were no major incidents of any kind at Springfest, Simpson said.

"It was a good overall first Springfest," he said. "The only disappointment was we couldn't get the balloon up because of the weather."

The wind never died down enough for the hot air balloon rides to take off. There were plenty of large inflatables for kids to climb on at the town's multipurpose field overlooking the park, though. A steady stream of moms and dads and children, many of them in their dads' arms, trekked up and down the hill between the stages where musicians performed, the food vendors and the kid zone.

"I used to go to Fest-i-Fun," said Debbi Taylor of Fort Mill, referring to Fort Mill's privately-run event traditionally held the first weekend in May, "but this is better. [Springfest] has more entertainment, more bands. The only thing I miss is there's not a lot of vendors [here]."

Simpson led the informal 25-member volunteer committee that organized the festival. The committee had three months to plan beginning in February.

"It was a total team effort - I can't take the credit," he said.

Being a first-time event, Springfest provided a learning opportunity, Simpson said.

"We didn't know how many people to expect," he said. "We tried to be as prepared as we could be, but with it being brand new, we just weren't sure what to expect."

The town plans to call the committee back together in the coming weeks to discuss what did and did not work at Springfest, and what changes to make for next year.

"You always learn something, there's always room for improvement," he said.

Fort Mill was still matching revenues with expenses Monday, and Simpson could not say how much Fort Mill spent on Springfest and how much of that cost was offset by corporate sponsorships.

But Simpson knows several of the vendors ran out of food throughout the festival.

"The American Legion cooked 400 hamburgers and 600 hot dogs and sold all of them," he said.

• Editor Michael Harrison contributed to this story.