"But I think the best thing about it is that it's so fun for the kids," he added. "The face painting is free. There's free t-shirt decorating. Nobody says no. Kids get treated right here."

Kids had the run of Essex St., which was packed with trays of toys, cotton candy and bouquets of balloons.

Storytellers and folk dancers wowed sticky children and their tired parents.

Even staid Harvard got in on the act. Students milled around the festival, strolling between the fair's seven stages to hear gospel, reggae, hip hop and salsa.

Those who stayed until the fair's close saw one of Harvard's History and Literature tutors, Edward L. Widmer '84, singing to a crowd of thousands in a wig, velveteen britches and a beauty mark, with his band, "The Upper Crust".

With the Western Avenue stop light swinging uselessly over the stage, eighteenth century noblemen, dreadlocked students and young parents with children perched on their shoulders swayed back and forth to tunes like "Bourgeois" and "Let Them Eat Rock."

Cambridge Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves summed up the afternoon. "I think [the fair] is extraordinary. It's really a snapshot of Cambridge...we have a good time with each other," he said