With a tinge of autumn in the air, Lenoir City residents and people from surrounding communities are set to celebrate the season with a downtown street festival that will include a classic car show, live music, arts and crafts and more.

The festival, which takes place noon-4 p.m. Saturday on Broadway Street, is in its 10th year and was the brainchild of Parks and Recreation Director Steve Harrelson.

"(We) just wanted to start a fall event in downtown to bring a lot of people to the downtown area for an event, so it just kind of began with that idea of mine," Harrelson said. "We just started with the antique car show and live music and that sort of thing, and we've just kind of grown from that."

The event will also include food, a children's play area and a "chalk walk" contest in which residents create a piece of chalk artwork on the sidewalk. The works will be judged and plaques will be awarded for the best drawings. The "chalk walk" will take place at Roane State Community College. The festival will take place between Kingston and C streets.

Harrelson said while the event is mostly attended by people from Lenoir City, the festival will likely attract car enthusiasts from across East Tennessee.

"We'll draw some from West Knoxville, especially with the antique cars," Harrelson said. "You've got a lot of antique car folks from all over East Tennessee, so we'll get some folks in that'll bring their cars in and then others that'll come in from outside the area. ... I think the majority of them are from the Loudon County area."

He said the festival would include a "wide variety" of cars from classics to antiques.

"Really, a lot of nice cars," he said. "You can tell people have put a lot of work and time and effort into these cars. They're a sight to see some of them that come out, and, of course, a lot of them will have their hoods opened up so that people can see the motors that they rebuilt and so forth."

Organizers will also set up a television viewing area so residents won't have to miss college football action."Normally in the past, UT's (University of Tennessee) played on our street festival day, but this year, they're not playing, but we're still going to go ahead and set it up and get some ball games on in case people want to hang out and watch the ball game," Harrelson said.

Musical entertainment for the festival will be provided by The Holloways of Lenoir City and the Mason Helton Band, also a local outfit.

Lenoir City Lions Club, which has assisted with the festival for about five years, will be on hand once again to facilitate activities along the street. The club will be selling various types of bread to support its efforts.

As part of its community outreach, the club helps children and adults get eye screenings and basic frames and lenses for needy residents.

"Basically, we just try to do things to help the community as much as we can," club president Kathleen Bailey said. "We don't have unlimited funds, obviously, but we work with various charities we've contributed money for and worked for."

Bailey said the club in Lenoir City was able to raise about $2,000 per year toward its various fundraisers.

"We just really try to be a force in the community to help wherever we can," Bailey said.

During the street festival, she not only encourages people to bring their antique cars for show, but she also hopes to raise awareness about the types of services that are available for residents in need of eye care. The Lions Club also works with blind and dyslexic people.

"There is a place if they did need glasses or if they have a child that they had trouble with their vision they can get it taken care of," Bailey said. "In other words, it's a lot more reasonable than if you just try to go to an ophthalmologist yourself and pay the bills, try to get an exam done. For them to be aware that these things are out there" is important.

The parks and recreation department is also planning a Halloween festival on Oct. 30 at Wampler-Keith Park, which will include a costume contest, cake walks, face painting, hay rides and more.

Harrelson said the fall street festival has grown with each passing year. He estimated that between 1,500-2,000 people attended last year.

"It really grows each and every year as far as the number of cars and the number of participants, so we're expecting a big crowd," Harrelson said. "Of course, an event like that this time of year, it depends on the weather, so we hope the weather won't be like today (Monday). It will be like it was over the weekend. If we can get some good weather, we should have some big crowds Saturday."