DURHAM — ******

CORRECTION

An article on Page 1B on Sunday about Durham's Festival for the Eno included incorrect historical information. The first festivals were staged at Durham's West Point on the Eno Park in 1976 and 1978. The Eno River Association has sponsored the early July event every year since 1980.

****** A hundred yards off Roxboro Road, kids splashed Saturday in the Eno River while parents sampled the aromas of food vendors, deciding which cuisine to select for lunch.

"The kids like the water," said Josh Levy, 40, of Chapel Hill. "But I'm here for the fish tacos."

Music was in the air, too, at Durham's West Point on the Eno Park. It was the start of the three-day Festival for the Eno, which raises money to protect land surrounding the river so future generations can enjoy its cool waters.

"My wife made me come," Jason Henson of Youngsville joked in front of his wife,Michelle.

"It's to support the Eno; it's a good cause," Michelle said.

The Hensons make regular donations to the Eno River Association, which staged the first event in 1976.

The festival had as many twists as the Eno itself, offering almost anything a person could ask for on a sunny July day - except air-conditioning.

Conservation messages were strong. Vendors sold energy-efficient windows and American-made, sustainable wood furniture.

Activists enlisted support for a campaign to stop businesses from cutting down forests.

Some of the biggest crowds were drawn to tables offering animals for adoption or extolling the use of personal assistance dogs. The festival was host to dogs as big as a Great Dane and as small as a mohawked terrier named Columbus.

Four stages were spread over the park with rotating music and dance performers. Gospel, blues and rock music filled the air. Cloggers could be heard from one stage accompanied by a bluegrass band, while a solo guitarist drew attention to the next.

The food offerings were a mix of fairground eats and environmentally conscious cuisine.

Funnel cakes could be seen nestled between curry and hummus, fair-trade organic coffee across from a giant lemon selling fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Around the park, vendors sold goods of all types to festivalgoers. Blown-glass jewelry, homemade soaps and cast faces attracted the decoratively minded while handmade furniture, tools and toys attracted the more hands on types.

There were trash composting and recycling bins, and a booth that offered sculptures made out of trash. The works of art included a polar bear created from white artificial turf, and a worm made from bicycle tires.

Droves of people flocked to the expansive shade trees to escape the heat, sit and let the music soak in for a spell. While some rented kayaks and canoes for a paddle, kids climbed the dam, searched the river shallows for stones, or just floated in the eddies.

matthew.caulder@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4889