The Old Company Store celebrated its 20^th anniversary on Saturday, June 29, with live music, food trucks, balloon hats, a boutique bus driven in and staffed by Mermaids on Cape Cod and booths set up by local artisans and makers of specialty foods.

To be 100% accurate, the Old Company Store itself is a lot more than 20 years old. The anniversary was of the establishment’s ownership by sisters Shari Aussant and Cindi Assad and mother Sandy Assad.

Located across from the old Tremont Nail Factory not far from Wareham center, the store – once literally the “company store” -- has evolved into an emporium of gifts and crafts and specialty foods with an emphasis on all things local.

“We want to promote this area as the historic part of Wareham,” Shari said Saturday, standing beside her store but sweeping her arm wide to include the now-vacant factory. And, referring to both her goods and the artisans gathered in and around her store, “we want we to see what the entire community has to offer.”

What’s changed in the 20 years of Assad ownership? Most noticeably the renovation and expansion of two outbuildings into a large wing of shopping space.

What’s yet to come? Shari returns to the theme of local products. She points out that the birthday party doubled as the debut of “Saturdays in the Park.” The weekly, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. event throughout the summer allows local artisans, crafters, makers of specialty food, and other very small businesses to set up shop under a tent for the day – for just $25 a day or $100 for the season.

She calls the booths “pop-up shops,” a reference to a largely urban phenomena in which small artisans set up temporary retail spaces.

While most of the pop-ups are of the for-profit variety, the Old Company Store also welcomes local non-profits. On Saturday, a stream of young visitors kept Darryl Higgins of the Onset Youth Center busy making balloon creations. All proceeds benefited the Youth Center.