Blooming Fest began as a small plant sale in a single building. Now, seven years later, the festival sprawls across two city blocks and draws thousands to downtown West Chicago for a day of entertainment.

About 3,000 people attended the street fair Saturday to buy crafts, plants and food, and watch local groups perform.

“It brings people downtown that normally don’t come downtown,“ Community Development Director Joanne Kalchbrenner said.

As the city contemplates major downtown redevelopments, festival organizers hope events like Blooming Fest will help attract people to the area, providing a sales base for the future businesses.

But attracting outside tourism is only half the battle. Without hotels and other attractions, the city’s main goal is making West Chicagoans aware of all the city has to offer, Kalchbrenner said.

“A lot of us go from home to work and we drive along the big arterials and see the Menards and the (big box) stores,” Kalchbrenner said. “(The downtown’s) not on their way to work.”

Judith Crozier is one West Chicagoan regularly drawn to the downtown by city events. Crozier and her family attended the festival for the third time to take advantage of the plant sale.

“It’s terribly exciting to have the native plants available,” Crozier said. “I feel like a kid in the candy store.”

Garden Club members potted and arranged more than 10,000 plants for the annual sale. Plant Sale Chairman Dick Darrah said the club usually sells nearly all of the plants. Proceeds go to various charities and to maintaining the historic Kruse House Museum.

In addition to the sale, this year’s event included 51 vendors, food, and entertainment from local choirs, dance groups and orchestras.

“Every year we’ve added something new and now we’re big enough to spread across Main Street,” organizer Linda Ericksen said. “We’re going to keep making it bigger and better.”

Ericksen, who also works in the city’s Community Development Department, said the event has started drawing people from outside West Chicago, from places such as Lombard, Geneva and Naperville.

Mayor Michael Kwasman, who was on hand for the festivities, said getting people to visit and eventually live downtown is key to luring more businesses.

“We’re not looking to be a Naperville,” Kwasman said. “But we’re rebuilding ourselves.”

While the city waits for the redevelopments to take hold, events like Blooming Fest are helping introduce West Chicagoans to their city and to each other.

“I think there’s a lot of cohesiveness that evolves,” Crozier said. “There’s a nice sense of community involvement. It makes it a nice place to live.”