PETERBOROUGH — Monadnock region children converged in Peterborough Saturday for the 19th Annual Children and the Arts Festival.

About 5,000 people attended the all-day festival, which peaked at noon with the annual Giant Puppet Parade.

Many parade participants used this year's Flower Power theme to tap into the 1960s peace movement, bearing peace signs and wearing tie-died shirts, while other marchers went with a more botanical take.

The Hancock-based children's gardening program the Cornucopia Project paraded down Grove Street in a dark green, classic Chevrolet truck topped with a giant paper sunflower while passing out packets of flower seeds.

This year's festival was met with sunshine and blue skies.

“You can't beat the weather,” said Jeannie Connelly, a festival committee co-chair.

All activities were free, from a make-your-own, tie-dyed T-shirt station to a festival of short films written and directed by ConVal High School students.

The creation of a community tile mosaic behind the Toadstool Bookshop was a first, as an art installation that will remain permanently.

The project was spear-headed by Dublin mosaic artist Heather Stockwell, who oversaw the children lined up to participate.

Stockwell has participated in the festival for the past 12 years, making puppets, marching in the parade with her son and running craft workshops.

This year, she wanted to do something different.

Willard Williams, owner of the Toadstool Bookshop, was a willing partner.

“That was a little difficult to convince a building owner that it would be permanent,” Stockwell said of her mosaic project. “Willard was the third person that I asked and he said 'Yes,'” Stockwell said.

The festival was started in 1993 after Connelly — an arts enrichment coordinator for the ConVal School District — garnered a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.

“It's gratifying,” she said, to see what the festival has become today. “What a great community. ... I love just standing here and seeing how many people are walking around this town; seeing all these kids with smiling faces doing something wholesome.”