ACWORTH — The fourth annual Love the Lake Festival kicked off on Saturday with more than enough sun and plenty of activities.

The two-day festival will continue from noon to 6 p.m. today at Lake Acworth Beach at Cauble Park. Admission is free. Parking is available in downtown Acworth. Visitors should look for shuttle stop signs.

The city of Acworth and Acworth Business Association are co-hosting the annual event, which includes arts and crafts, food, entertainment and a kids zone with inflatables.

An estimated crowd of between 5,000 to 6,000 people attended the lake festival, which was about the same as last year but not as many as organizers were hoping for. The 90 degree plus temperatures seemed to have affected attendance, as well as other Labor Day weekend events happening simultaneously.

“It’s slow growing and trying to get on everyone’s calendar,” said ABA festival chairman Marlon Longacre, who expects cooler temperatures to bring larger crowds today.

“Everybody who came today had a great time … it’s a great day to spend time with the family and that’s what it’s all about.”

Rob and Donna Bailey of Acworth took advantage of the festival’s location in their backyard and attended with their 2-year-old son, Xander. The couple has boats and personal watercrafts of their own and were drawn to the watercraft racing on Lake Acworth.

The Sea Doo Pro Hydro-X Tour continues at 5 p.m. today with high-speed personal watercraft racing, as well as freestyle performances, music and giveaways. It was one of the more popular activities of the festival.

In addition to the tour, the Love the Lake Festival features over 100 arts and crafts vendors, including Von and Lucy Suffridge of Kennesaw, owners of Handmade Creations by Lucy, which sells items such as kitchen towels and children’s aprons.

“So far, I’ve been pleased. I just wish there was more people here,” Lucy said Saturday afternoon. “There’s just not many yet, at this time of the day. It’s just so hot. Tomorrow is supposed to be better.”

Delightful Bitefull Catering and Williamson Bros. Bar-B-Q were among the many food vendors offering victuals ranging from barbecue and polish sausages to roasted corn and ice cream.

Acworth-based Boy Scout Troop 638 was also on hand selling ice cold water and funnel cakes, to raise money for a hut meeting place, said Jeekwon Lee, 14. Currently, the Scouts meet on Tuesday nights at Hillcrest Baptist Church on Woodstock Road.

“We always meet at a church, but we want to having a building of our own,” said Noah Rogers, 13. “So we’re building a Scout building for just our troop.”

Thanks to their pizza eating skills, a team clad in matching black Buccaneers T-shirts from Allatoona High School beat out three other local high school teams to win this year’s CiCi’s Cup competition, which also included an obstacle course, tug of war and a canoe race.

Festivalgoer Ben Traore, 5, of Marietta, accompanied by his father, Abdoulaye Traore, managed to stay cool yesterday by playing inside an inflatable “hamster ball” in a swimming pool. The best part of his day was a flavorful snow cone, he said while sinking his teeth into it.