DAPHNE, Ala. — Music, arts and crafts, beautiful weather and free collards and cornbread brought hundreds to the 4th Annual Collard Festival in Belforest on Saturday.

Door prize contributions brought in about $1,000 for the American Cancer Society after expenses were paid, Paul Cadenhead, organizer, said.

Blood donations exceeded goals at Saturday’s event. Organizers received 30 pints of blood after a goal of 20, Pam Pace, branch manager of LifeSouth Inc., a blood donation agency, said.

“It was a picture-perfect day for a blood drive; 90 people were saved (with the donated blood),” Pace said.

The main attraction — collard green tasting — brought in most of the crowd.

“Six hundred to 800 people filed through to get collard greens, cornbread and fried chicken,” Cadenhead said.

A large, metal beer keg was adapted into a pot for the multitude of greens.

“We cooked up between 75 and 85 large bundles of collard greens,” he said.

“We ran out of collards around 2:30 p.m.” Rosemary Sheffield, an organizer, said.

Collard greens are a loose-leaf plant in the cabbage family. Collards are a typical Southern dish often boiled with salty or smoked meats.

Cadenhead said that numbers were down from previous years, but the festival still had around 1,000 people in attendance throughout the day.

Three excellent judges and “good-ol’ country boys” decided the winners for the recipe contest, he said.

The first-place trophy went to Laverne Stewart; second place went to Faye Dunaway.

Also Saturday, arts and crafts attracted a crowd with candle-making, bird houses, basket and jewelry sales, according to Sheffield.

“Category 4” has been the festival’s band for three of the four years; they also entertained the crowd with a variety of music, Cadenhead said.

“We had a real good day; people responded well,” he said.

The day left many organizers and participants proud to be part of the festivities.

“You walk away feeling like you’ve done something at the end of the day,” Pace said.