OCEAN CITY, Md.- Ocean City's 45th annual Sunfest got underway Thursday with hundreds of vendors and items to buy.
One couple was looking for a special gift for their son. The father, Ryan Watkins, said he wanted to buy a homemade step stool for his son. He recalls his wife had one made by her father.
"It means a lot. It means a lot to her cause it's something like a tradition in her family,” said Watkins.
Mother-daughter duo Beth and Lauren Simmons are the festival for their third year. They sell homemade and recycled beach decor, made out of bottles and seashells.
"We hear it all the time, you know, this is different, we've never seen this before. I think that really attracts new customers,” said Lauren Simmons.
Allen Chisholm is at the Sunfest for the first time with jams fused with different ingredients. He said his relatives in Canada preserved jams and jellies for years and now he’s continuing the tradition.
"If you put a little spin on something everybody's used to, then it's different. You know you take something old and it's still old but you make it a little new,” said Chisholm.
Visitors can shop, listen to musical performances and purchase food at Sunfest until Sunday night. Musical performances at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday require tickets.