Francesca Condeluci enjoys walking around the Three Rivers Arts Festival. She estimates she's attended this year's event six times since it began earlier this month.

"I love coming here and talking to the artists," said the Crafton native. "It's also a nice opportunity to enjoy the city and the open air."

Dianne Koval-Butler was also happy to be out enjoying the sun and festival atmosphere.

"I arrived in town on Friday," said Mrs. Butler, who grew up in Plum but now lives in Maryland. "I went to a Pirates game on Saturday and today I'm enjoying the festival. I checked out the artwork before going over to the food vendors. I can't leave here without a pierogi."

The 49th festival, which featured food, concerts and artists, concluded last night. Organizers estimated more than 400,000 people attended this year's event.

"This is an ungated event, so it's pretty hard to say [exactly how many people]," said Lauren Bracey, manager of communications for the Three Rivers Arts Festival.

Among this year's highlights were the contained exhibits -- the metal shipping containers lining Forbes Avenue near Market Square.

"The shipping containers was a new way to present the visual arts," continued Ms. Bracey. "We are looking forward to seeing how we can explore that next year."

Many of the vendors said business was generally good despite some rain and a few days of unusually cool temperatures.

"It's been great, and we've had a great response to our product," said Kevin Jordan, co-partner of Soul Ice frozen desserts. "The cold weather slowed things down a bit, but when it's been hot, things have really been nice.

"We plan to be a regular here," he continued.

Tim Schultz, owner of Schultz Glass, has not taken part until this year but said sales for one week were good enough to justify coming back next year.

"It's been better than I expected, considering the economy," said Mr. Schultz, who lives in Indiana County. "I do about 30 shows a year and with the price of gas, I guess I did pretty good."

This year's event featured music ranging from reggae and hip-hop, to 1970s punk, to singer songwriters.

But the large crowd milling around the main stage was waiting for guitarist Alejandro Escovedo, whose latest album, "Real Animal," hits the street tomorrow.

"Every year I come here for a handful of performers," Maureen Franks of Baldwin. "This year, it's for Alejandro. I teach dance and his music is perfect for me. He's so original."