The normally quiet stretches of AD Makepeace property were transformed into a bustling hub of activity Saturday for the 12th Annual Cranberry Harvest Festival.

AD Makepeace Senior Vice President Jim Kane estimated that, over the two days of the festival, the property was likely to see 25,000 to 30,000. He said this is due, in part, not only to the good weather forecasted for the weekend, but also because Sunday’s Patriots football game doesn’t start until 4:15 p.m.

The Youngs, who moved to Massachusetts within the last few years, said it was their first year there. They came with their 1 1/2-year-old son, Stone.

"It's a lot of fun. We just came back from the bog area," Aaron Young said.

Festival-goer Bill Straser, of Rhode Island, said he came to the festival, because he wanted to learn about the bogs.

"We've just done the bog tour, which was excellent – so, the explanation of the wet harvest and the dry harvest," Strasser said, referring to the different kinds of cranberry harvest methods.

"Wet harvest" is used for jams, jellies, and sauces, whereas "dry harvest" is used for bagged whole cranberries. A wet harvest utilizes water, and means the cranberries will rot more quickly; thus, they are used for cooked and canned items.

Kane said the festival is an opportunity for AD Makepeace, as the world’s largest cranberry grower, to showcase what goes into a cranberry harvest, and “the farming operation that built the company, and that remains the heart of the company.”

“Whether people recognize it or not, cranberry farming is the economic foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts,” Kane said. “Sure, there’s tourism; yes, there’s healthcare, but at the end of the day, what keeps this part of the Commonwealth afloat is its agriculture.”

Kane said he believes the festival helps people understand this, and gives them a much greater appreciation for the cranberry harvest, and all the people who work for the industry. He said the best judge of how the industry – and, by extension, the people of the South Coast – is doing is by the state of residents’ cars and trucks.

“Good times mean new pickups. Not-so-good times mean not-so-new vehicles,” Kane said. “It’s a very direct correlation between how well cranberries are doing, and – serving as the underpinning of the economy – how well people are doing.”

Kane said the industry is doing well this year, in terms of total yield.

“It looks like a record-breaking crop for this year. However, there is price difference between the independent market and the Ocean Spray market,” Kane said, referring to one of the world’s largest cranberry processors, headquartered in Massachusetts. “It means that some growers are making one rate per [100 pounds] of cranberries. … There is a disparity right now in the marketplace between Ocean Spray and the independent market.”

Kane said he did not know what proportion of growers are affected by the price differences.

It isn’t just Massachusetts locals who frequent the celebration, though. Kane said the festival attracts people from as far away as Italy, China, and Japan.

“I met a couple today from Great Britain, and I said, ‘What brought you to the United States in the Fall?’ And she looked at me with a bit of astonishment, and said, ‘Well, this festival!’” Kane said. “We have another gentlemen who comes every year from Italy. I am waiting to see him – hopefully he is making it over, as well. That’s a fun part for me, because you get to meet so many people. … It’s a good draw for the region. I think it’s a good element for just about everybody.”

The festival continued until Sunday at 4 p.m.