MATTAPOISETT — A small city of tents occupied Shipyard Park on July 17 and 18, as vendors and visitors returned to Mattapoisett Lions Club Harbor Days after the festival was cancelled last year due to covid.

Events over the weekend included live music, shopping and food. And on the streets surrounding Shipyard Park, there was no shortage of lemonade stands and garage sales.

Heather Leclair-Perez of Mattapoisett Sea Hag Etched Glass was among the vendors in the park. She said she’s been selling her glasses, ornaments and coasters at Harbor Days for five years — minus the covid year.

“It’s so nice to see everyone’s faces,” she said. “It’s just so great to be out again.”

With cornhole, horseshoes, crafts and a henna tattoo tent, Harbor Days had no shortage of things to do for families.

Live entertainment was available throughout the weekend, too. The Showstoppers and other local performers serenaded guests as they shopped, ate and participated in the fun.

Down the street, the Mattapoisett Museum held adjacent events with their own music. Southcoast Lessons’ Old Time Fiddle Sessions sat in a circle in the museum and played folk music for visitors to enjoy.

With covid guidelines shifting throughout the fall, winter and spring, the Mattapoisett Lions Club had to pull the whole festival together in around a month.

“We knew that we would be presented with covid related difficulties,” King Lion Ross Kessler said, adding that the club usually begins planning in November.

“We had to do what we normally do in six to seven months in a month,” Kessler said.

This year, the club had to cut about 15% of its vendors and cancel the annual triathlon in order to make sure Harbor Days could go on.

The club also posted signs with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and put hand sanitizer throughout the park.

Kessler said the club had to put additional work into cleaning its trailers that hadn’t been used in two years, and that everyone involved with the club showed up to do their part.

“I’m amazed at the participation of the Lions Club and the friends of the Lions,” he said.

Kessler said that he expected to have to do a lot of heavy lifting to make sure Harbor Days would be able to go on this year, but was pleased to see that everyone from the cooks to the raffle runners were taking initiative.

“Those people took it and ran with it on their own,” he said. “To call it anything but a group effort would be naive and arrogant.”

For the Harbor Days festivities of 2021, Kessler — and all the vendors, volunteers and visitors — had the chance to enjoy the community coming back together with smiles (and maybe a little bit of ice cream) on their faces.

“And that’s what it’s all about,” Kessler said.